


Cold Comfort

by Stinkin_Thinkin



Category: Deltarune (Video Game), Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Adventure, BBW, Belly, Cold, Comfort, Cuddling, Danger, Deltarune - Freeform, F/M, Fat - Freeform, Fetish, Happy Ending, Hetrosexual - Freeform, Hidden Feelings, Loneliness, Love, Mental Abuse, Parental Abuse, Physical Abuse, Physical Intimacy, Romance, Sadness, Secrets, Sexaul situations, Video Game, friends - Freeform, scaly, sexual innuendo, straight - Freeform, toby fox - Freeform, undertale - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 09:54:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 23,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28686684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stinkin_Thinkin/pseuds/Stinkin_Thinkin
Summary: Susie finds herself walking the streets of Hometown at midnight as a great blizzard rages around her. Already a tough situation to be in, but to make matters worse, all she has on is a pair of ratty pajamas. How will she survive the dread frost of Grandfather Winter? Read on to find out.Back to my roots; a new Krusie story for people to read. I feel like this is easily the most technically well built thing I have put together since I started writing fiction. As always, comments and critique are greatly appreciated and I hope you enjoy.
Relationships: Kris & Susie (Deltarune), Kris/Susie (Deltarune), Krusie (Deltarune)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 56





	Cold Comfort

**Author's Note:**

> A HUGE thanks to the following fellas:  
> \- Gote_Herder: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gote_Herder  
> \- King Fisher: N/A  
> \- Rangto: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rangto  
> If it weren't for these fine folks, this story would be a shambling abomination of overused words and passive voice.  
> If you like DR/UT stories go check them out, I promise you will NOT be disappointed.

A howling wind screamed down the vacant streets of Hometown. The frigid gusts carried with them the bitter chill of deep winter and diamond-dust snow. The orange glow of the lamp posts stationed along the streets consumed the brilliance of each crystal that danced under them. Each of the buzzing lights hummed as they kept their vigil, some of them flickered, their long stand against the darkness of innumerable nights approaching its end.

A lone figure strode beneath these stalwart beacons, clad in a thick vest and frayed, thermal flannel shirt. It was a dragon, more precisely, it was a blue dragon man. The hulking and rotund specimen of monsterdom teetered back and forth as he stumbled about. The fellow’s gait was a clumsy affair. He’d never been graceful, even under the best of circumstances, and at that moment, the only fluidity in him was the beer sloshing about in his guts.

Edward, or Eddy if you were his buddy, was on his way home from a night at his favorite watering hole. It was the kind of place every small town had and like all small towns of any decent repute, Hometown did its best to keep the existence of the squalid and filthy place on the down-low, but lowly sorts like Eddy always managed to find and support such dens. It was as though their noses had special sensors built in to catch even the faintest waft of sour beer or stale pretzels.

As usual, Eddy stayed until last call. Business had been slow enough that night that the bartender ended up locking the doors at exactly eleven o’clock, which Eddy still counted as a last call. Though the dragon drained his last silver bullet not ten minutes ago, already the warmth it imbued him with was fading as the dreadful cold sapped every bit of heat the drake had in and around him. Not that he noticed of course. He was three sheets to the wind and would have happily tossed a few more articles of bedding out given more time. In fact, Eddy would have been much happier if he were much, much drunker. Alas, it wasn't to be.

Eddy’s shift at the lumber yard had run late. This was entirely his own fault, he knew what the yard’s decrepit forklift was capable of. Luckily, no injuries came about due to his little stunt. The yard would have fired him if his idiocy had gotten anyone hurt. No amount of string pulling from his long-time chum, the foreman, couldn’t have saved his ass. Still, having to fix his mistake cost him several hours that he would have otherwise liked to have spent drinking.

 _Got plenty of cash to throw at Mikey’s new truck, but nothing when it comes to keeping ol’ Eddy safe and sound? Story of my damned life._ The dragon fumed as he closed in on the apartment complex that housed his daughter, Susie, and himself.

Crude and cruel thoughts bubbled up in Eddy’s booze-addled brain as he neared his domicile. _Little girl better of cleaned the place up, or I swear to the Angel above... I don’t care if she turned 18 in the summer, she still lives under my roof and I’ll put her snotty little ass over my knee if she pops an attitude. I’m her daddy after all! Kids gotta respect their daddies! I always showed my old man respect and he still put me in my place when he knowed it weren’t sincere. I've been a freakin’ saint with all the patience I’ve showed her over the years._

Eddy stopped his internal rant as he ascended the steps that led to the front door of the apartment building. The drunkard eyeballed the door for a moment, as though he had forgotten how it worked. After a brief pause, the dragon crammed a hand into the bottom right pocket of his vest and pulled out a tarnished brass key, which he jammed into the door’s lock.

The dragon fought with the door for a few seconds before he managed to pop it open. Years of practice had taught Eddy the exact amount of force needed to unstick the thing without sending it careening against the wall and waking up every occupant of the first floor. Eddy already got enough guff from his neighbors on the third floor for his late-night noise making. The last thing he needed was to get on the wrong side of a whole other floor, doubly so when it housed the superintendent of the building.

After teetering down a dim hallway, Eddy stumbled through the door that led to the stairwell. After tottering up two flights of stairs and fussing with a third door, the dragon tromped down a short, faded-linoleum floored hallway to the entrance of the apartment he and his daughter called home.

Right before Eddy plunged his key into the lock, he looked down at the foot of the door to see if any light was spilling out from under it. Yellow meant the lights were on, blue meant the lights weren’t but the TV was, and darkness meant Susie would be in father’s good graces for the evening. Eddy wasn't surprised to see a thin stream of yellow light trickling out from the crack between door and floor. Nor was he at all surprised to hear the muffled sound of a television program playing.

 _Little shit knows she ought to be in bed when I get home. If she left the TV and lights on again after going to sleep I’m gonna tan her purple hide._ Eddy thought as he white-knuckled the door handle.

\-----

Susie sat at the gouged plastic table that was a makeshift desk to her, a makeshift bar to her father, and occasional dining space to both of them. She wore a pair of threadbare gray sweatpants, a tattered black t-shirt with the words “Witch Dagger” silkscreened on it, and a pair of matted down tan slippers. The purple dragoness sat bent over, doing her best to focus on her homework while she listened to her stomach protest digesting the frozen dinner she’d horked down earlier. On occasion, a yellow-claw tipped hand pressed against her tubby abdomen in an attempt to silence its grumbled protests.

The textbook in front of her looked like it had sopped up several cans worth of cola. Next to the tome was a spiral-bound notebook filled with a few unanswered math equations, many swear words, and several crude stick figures engaged in all manner of unseemly acts.

An action scene kicking off on the TV show Susie had on as background noise interrupted her attempt at arithmetic. Susie watched as a pelican dressed in a beat officer's uniform leveled a gun towards the camera. His feathered hand shook as he prepared to fire a bullet at some miscreant standing off-screen. *Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop* went the gun as the bird monster emptied it of its contents. As the camera jumpcut to the now prone and dusty criminal monster, a much louder bang echoed throughout the minuscule domicile.

“The hell are you doing up this late you little shit?” Eddy growled as he stepped through the door, its frame still reverberating from the force he’d put behind throwing it open. “You know damn well when I get home I want this place clean, quiet, and dark. It ain’t none of them things, the hell is that?”

Susie’s eyes shot open wide and she almost fell out of her chair due to the shock caused by her father’s abrupt appearance. “DAMN! I-It ain’t my fault, your home early, I didn’t do noth—” She started to stutter out before her old man cut her off.

“Cram it! You always pull an excuse out your fat little ass. Never your fault for nothin’. Always an excuse, always someone else’s fault! Well I ain’t having none of it tonight. Not after the day I got through having.” As he spoke, Eddy marched towards Susie and lowered his head so he was staring her down by the time he arrived at her seat.

From where she sat, Susie could smell Eddy’s last few drinks wafting down from his half-open maw. The stink wouldn't have bothered Susie, but tonight it was particularly pungent. Her father must have seen her snout wrinkle in disgust, because he got right in her face before he continued his tirade.

“Got something to say to me, hmmm princess!? Cause if you do, I’m all ears.”

“No DAD.” Susie spat as she hurried out of her chair and stood up. Backing away from her father and towards the hallway that led to her bedroom. “I’m gonna go to bed like a good little girl. I’ll be sure to tell Miss Alphys why I didn't finish my homework, AGAIN...”

“You watch your tongue, little miss piss, ‘specially when you’re talking to me, you hear? Now you tell me why you’re still up when you know the rules ‘bout how bedtime works round here.” Eddy crossed his arms over his barrel chest as he continued to plod after Susie. He wore a look that made it clear he thought his outburst and condescension had already won the fight he’d picked with his daughter.

Susie continued to back towards the hall as she eyed her father up and down. She needed a minute to figure out if he just wanted the usual “yes sir, no sir” treatment or if she would have to go into full kiss-ass mode to quell his raging temper. Susie was about to test the waters when her father answered her question for her.

The older dragon lurched towards his child and shot one of his baseball-glove sized mitts out towards Susie’s mane of black-brown hair. The younger dragon juked her neck and shoulders back just in time to avoid Eddy’s grasping claws.

“You little shit you get over here right now and answer your daddy. Do. You. Understand. Me?” Eddy accented each word with a feign or swipe of his claws.

Susie didn't say a word as she backpedaled as fast as she could down the hallway and towards her bedroom door. She knew from experience that her dad was fighting mad and nothing short of vacating the premises or divine intervention would get her out of the situation she was in. Closed doors, fire escapes, and running; those were the only things that were going to keep her from rocking a brand spanking new, Eddy Cindersson brand shiner.

Unable and unwilling to take the insult of his own flesh and dust disobeying a direct order from him, Eddy pursued Susie down the hallway. The female dragon was fortunate that her father was as wasted as he was. Were he even a tidbit soberer, he would have caught her no problem. But, fate was on her side, and Susie managed to slip into her bedroom before Eddy could get his hands on her.

The instant Susie was in her room, she latched both her hands on her bedroom door and swung it shut with all her monstrous might. As she did so, Eddy made one last ditch attempt at grappling her. He swung a large hand through the door and out towards the neck of her shirt. Yet, this only resulted in the clamping of the elder dragon’s hand between the door and its frame. The second Eddy felt the wooden edge of the door bite through his scales and into his flesh, he began to howl like a man possessed. The dragon’s bellow was a mixture of shock, pain, and most of all rage.

Seeing that the only defense between herself and her dear old dad wasn't yet secured, Susie did the only thing she could think of. She took a step back and then threw her not inconsiderable girth against the door with all the might she could muster. The crunch the door made as it chomped deeper into Eddy’s hand would have made Susie sick to her stomach were it not for the adrenaline coursing through her. Instead, all Susie could hear was the tremendous thud of her father’s ass hitting the ground as he threw himself backward in a desperate bid to free his trapped digits. After that, the only noise she heard was the clack of the lock on the door as she secured it in place, followed by the clomp and clatter of her slipper clad feet as she charged towards her bedroom window.

Even before Susie stopped moving, she’d thrown the window open. It was only when a frozen gust of wind blew through the gaping aperture that Susie remembered how cold it was outside. For the briefest of seconds, she considered barricading herself in her room and waiting out Hurricane Eddy. That train of thought derailed when she heard the sound of splintering wood behind her followed by a winded grunt. Only one choice was open if Susie wanted to escape her father’s wrath.

With nary a second thought, the young drake popped through her window and descended into the night. The gamble of venturing into the cold dark streets was a far safer option to her than spending another minute under the same roof as her fuming father.

\-----

Susie flew down the wrought iron steps of the fire escape and sprinted down the alleyway that would disgorge her onto Mainstreet. But, before she managed to escape the alley, her slipper clad feet slid out from under her as she slipped on a patch of black ice.

The dragoness didn't realize she was flat on her back for the first few seconds she lay sprawled on the ground, such was the panicked state of her mind. In fact, it was only when she attempted to suck in some air and her lungs failed to do so did she realize her predicament. Susie lay in her dazed state for only a few seconds before a shout from above snapped her out of it.

“You get your plum colored ass back here right now you ungrateful! Little! Cunt!” Eddy roared from the window Susie had escaped him through. The dragon’s hulking frame and drunken state kept him from maneuvering through the small window. “If you don’t, I swear if I ever so much as see that fugly mug of yours I’ll put my belt to you and I don’t care how many people see. You hear me girl? I’ll beat you ‘til your own mama wouldn’t even want to look at you!”

Susie could almost see the froth and spittle flow from her father’s mouth as he raged above. Powered by equal measures of grit and spite, Susie forced herself to start breathing again. When her lungs began to work, she took a gulp of air, which she began to hack upon due to its frigid temperature.

After her coughing fit subsided, Susie attempted to draw another breath. This time, she managed to do so without sounding like she was about to lose a lung. Susie then turned to stare up at her father. A look of utter contempt — no, utter hatred — worked its way across Susie’s face as she looked upon the drake who’d done everything he could to make her life a living hell since she was a little girl. The corners of the dragonness’s mouths pulled up into a snarl as she stared unblinking up at her long time tormenter and longer time failure of a parent.

“Like I need you or your shitpit of an apartment, DAD!” The purple girl hollered from her still prone position. Susie was still hopped up on the adrenaline imparted to her by her flight or fight response. With flight complete, it was time to fight. “In fact, I haven’t needed you in a LONG ass time. Hell, if anything, you're the one that needs ME! Who do you think keeps the place from falling apart? It’s me you moron! I’m the one that makes sure there’s food in the fridge. I’m the one who grabs up every penny you leave laying around to make sure the rent gets paid and the lights stay on. It’s me that makes sure you don’t drink or smoke your way through every week’s paycheck! I’ve been taking care of myself since I was six you crusty. Old. SHIT! If I gotta go house hunting at midnight so fucking be it!” As she finished her rebuttal, Susie picked herself up off the ground and brushed some snow off the back of her shirt and the seat of her pants.At this point, Susie was beyond boiling mad, she’d heard the phrase seeing red before, but always thought it was an expression, something people said because they didn’t want to say pissed off. Now, she knew better.

Never one to take an insult laying down, Eddy began to thrash about as he let loose a litany of profanities aimed straight at his offending offspring. His desire to teach his daughter a lesson about respecting her elders was overwhelming the inertia placed upon him by his drunken state. It took only a few sporadic jerks for Eddy to get both his shoulders through the window frame and hang his head and torso out above the fire escape landing. The dragon then placed both his hands on the brick walls on either side of the window and proceeded to try and push himself out. But, years of beers had not been kind to the fellow’s midsection, and after a few seconds of fierce struggle, he’d done nothing more than wedge himself tight between the bottom of the window and its weathered frame.

Susie watched her father’s impotent rage play out over several seconds. At first, she had worried when she saw him work his shoulders out the window. Now that he was stuck, she took a second to mock the old bastard by pointing and laughing at him. Panic, adrenaline, and years of anger all came together to make the sight of her father stuck and wriggling halfway out a window the funniest thing she’d seen in her life.

The dragoness doubled over with great brays of laughter until tears began to leak from her amber eyes. But all too soon, the laughter dried up and all that remained were tears that would not stop their flow until the nighttime air froze them to the sides of her face and snout. With only one option before her, Susie turned away from her still raging father and walked out of the alleyway and into the cold, open streets of Hometown.

\-----

A few minutes into her walk, painful shivers ran rampant across Susie’s hide; in fact, she couldn’t think of a time she had been colder in her whole life. In past winters, the apartment’s ancient furnace may have gone out, but at least then the building itself offered shelter from winter’s frozen fury. Now, she was not only outside on one of the coldest nights in Hometown’s history, but she was in attire that would have left her shivering on a brisk spring evening.The only thing that kept Susie warm as she wandered alone under the buzzing street lights was her anger towards her father and constant movement. But only a few minutes away from her old man and her temper was beginning to sputter out and she realized that walking was only going to stave off hypothermia for so long.

 _Need to get inside ASAP._ Susie thought. _If I don’t… well, going back to dad wouldn't be the worst thing on earth. He probably wore himself out pretty good chasing after me and I HAVE made it through worse..._

 _N-no. NO!_ Susie mentally chastised herself. _I ain’t gonna do that. I… I deserve better? That’s what Kris says anyway. Not like he knows what I really mean when I tell him me and dad fight. Bet he just thinks it’s yelling or something. Yeah, sweet family like his, I’m sure he and his brother never even got spanked._

Thinking of Kris gave Susie a brilliant idea. _Wait a sec, Kris! I bet he'd let me chill at his place for a bit. Least til it’s daytime. But man… his place is two or three miles away. Still, better than going back to dad with my tail tucked between my legs._

Susie would have smiled at coming up with such a solid plan, but given her current situation, the best she could manage was a resigned grunt and locked her jaw to try and stop her teeth from chattering. Already, the talons of the winter wind were working their way deep into her and she still had several miles to trek before she arrived at the one place she may be able to find some succor.

The monster girl began her journey by walking north along Mainstreet, up the hills that would lead her to the Dreemurr house. As she crested the first rise, Susie was almost knocked over by the galeforce wind that blasted into her. If the deafening wailing of the wind wasn’t enough, being so high up allowed the diamond dust snow to pelt against her, stinging her snout and eyes with every micro impact. To combat the assault, Susie bowed her head and scurried towards a nearby building. Pressing herself against the structure’s exterior wall gave the dragon girl a slight reprieve from the snow and frigid air, but not near enough to get her through the night.

Susie took a minute to rub her hands together to work some feeling and warmth back into them. When that failed to elicit any more than a faint tingle, she took to cupping her claws together and placing them over her snout. Her breath did little to warm the half functional digits. _Better than nothing_ , Susie thought, _story of my life..._

Unable to find any more reason to stall, Susie continued making her way towards Kris’s house. Whenever possible, she kept herself plastered to the sides of buildings, stuck to alleyways running perpendicular to the way the wind was blowing, and avoided being out in the open as much as possible. An onlooker may have mistaken her for a burglar casing a potential target given how she was slinking about. On any other night, Officer Undyne might have stopped her, but the cold was harsh enough that it had driven even the stalwart cop to stay bundled up and warm at her desk in the police station.

As Susie turned off of Mainstreet and onto the road that led to Kris’s house, she encountered her next challenges. Those being, open fields, scraggy woodland, and long-vacant lots. All prime places for the wind to pick up a good head of steam before barreling into an intrepid, nighttime trudger.

Susie braved the elemental assault as best she could, but with every step, she felt the cold sapping her of her dwindling body heat and energy. It was at this point that Susie discovered that even moving in such cold hurt. Each breath stung her nostrils and lungs, each blink forced her eyes to break apart dams of frozen tears, and each stride forced cold skin and muscle to stretch when it wanted nothing more than to embrace sweet but oh so deadly inertia. For the first time in her life, she felt the primal fear of exposure, she learned during that walk why her ancestors took to living in caves and later houses.

As Susie made her way down a long stretch of sidewalk, she forced herself to focus on anything other than the pain of being cold. The first thing to come to mind was the math problem she’d been working on when her dad had burst into the apartment. On most occasions, Susie would have needed a pencil and paper to get through anything more advanced than long division, but somehow she managed to sort out the problem in her head. _If I make it through this stupid walk_ , she thought as she trudged through the now ankle deep snow, _I’m never gonna complain about math again._

As the freezing monster came to the top of another hill, she forgot all about math and focused on what she saw before her. Up ahead, less than a mile away, stood the darkened Dreemurr home. Seeing her goal, Susie broke into a methodical jog.

Jogging was never Susie's strong suit. She’d always maintained that her build lent itself to going through things, rather than around or over them. Yet tonight, if anyone on the cross country team would’ve been around, they would have seen a chubby dragon girl running… still, she was doing pretty well, all things considered.

After twenty to thirty odd minutes of late-night cardio, Susie set foot on Kris’s front lawn. The run had been both a blessing and a curse. The good news was that all that movement worked her muscles enough to warm up her extremities. The bad news was that all that movement flooded her lungs with cold air, which now felt frozen and fought the breathing process at every turn. The fight came to a head when Susie stopped to catch her breath and a terrible coughing fit got ahold of her.

Susie hacked, sputtered, and wretched until she doubled over. After a few seconds of feeling like she would never breathe again, the draconic girl managed to catch her breath. Placing her purple scaled hands on the knees of her tattered sweatpants, Susie forced herself upright and focused on evening out her breathing. _In and out, in and out, just like Undyne told you._ Susie thought as she reflected on the advice the fish cop gave her years ago. After she caught her breath, Susie made her way to the west side of the house. Upon rounding the corner, she ambled up to the old oak tree that stood parallel to the side of the two-story building.

The tree looked like an inverted L, like the insignia of the purple character in that one fighting game Kris and her sometimes played on his Pretendo Swap. The end of the big branch that made up the foot of the inverted L terminated right before a flat part of the roof situated in front of Kris’s bedroom window. As Susie learned from first-hand experience, that landing was a perfect place to conduct clandestine meetings between herself and her one and only friend.

Susie never thought of herself as particularly agile or dexterous, yet now it seemed like she would have to be that to escape the frozen hellscape she found herself in. For the second time that night, Susie cupped her hands together and placed them over her snout. She then spent the next few moments trying to blow as much warmth into them as she could without hyperventilating.

After she began to feel the tips of her fingers again, Susie closed the distance between herself and the tree. She wrapped one hand around the lowest branch and began to pull herself up and off the ground. As her feet cleared the snow-covered ground, she felt her slippers fall away from the soles of her feet. Knowing from earlier experience that her slippers had no grip, Susie kicked off the soaked through foot covers and began to scale the tree in earnest.

\-----

Based on her track record for the night, Susie felt certain that she would fall out of the tree and break her neck as she tried to climb it. But luck was on her side for once, and she not only made it up the tree and across the branch but onto the roof of the house without incident.

Within a split second of her foot coming in contact with the snow on the roof, Susie let out a loud gasp as frozen shock careened up her appendage, along her spine, and through the roots of her hair. Such was her surprise that Susie flailed about in a desperate struggle to maintain her balance and remain on her lofty perch.

After what felt like an eternity, the monster girl managed to steady herself. Unwilling to prolong her balancing act, she flung herself face first onto the snow-covered roof. Running on pure instinct, Susie took in a deep breath and immediately coughed it out as fine, crystal snow made its way up her nose and down her lungs. _Hell, I sound like that loser that works at ICE-E's after he comes back from his smoke breaks._ The dragoness mused as she propped herself up on her arms and knees and crawled towards Kris’s window.

Once she was next to the window, Susie put her hands up around her eyes and pressed her face against the glass to see inside. The room was dark, save for the blinking of the green power light on the old computer monitor, which flashed at her from the side of the room opposite the window.

Susie shifted her gaze to Kris’s side of the room, where she saw the human boy fast asleep in his bed. As she looked about, Susie felt the cold surrounding her bite deeper and deeper into her. Her limbs felt stiff, heavy, and sluggish; a sure sign Susie wasn't out of the woods yet when it came to the cold. Unwilling to let weather do her in, Susie wrapped her knuckles against the windowpane in an attempt to wake Kris. When the first attempt failed, she tried a second and then a third time. Peeved by her failure and stinging all over from the omnipresent cold, Susie was about ready to pound on the glass the way she would a door. She caught herself in time and instead, directed her fist towards the wall to the left of the window, which was the side nearest to the sleeping human.

\-----

Kris was having a Dark World dream. At least, he thought it was a dream, he could never quite tell when it came to the Dark World. But the fact that he was watching Jevil and the skeleton guy that moved to town earlier that year duke it out like they were characters from one of Miss Alphys manga cartoons made him feel certain that he wasn't in mortal danger. As the skeleton and daemon shot energy beams and scythes at one another, Kris turned to see both Susie and Ralsei sitting next to him.

To his right, with his scarf wrapped around his head, was Ralsei. To Kris’s left was Susie, who was egging the two weirdos on. After one of them pulled off a particularly flashy move, Susie started clapping and cheering. Except the noise her hands made didn’t sound like any sort of clapping Kris ever heard before. It sounded like a hammer hitting a board rather than scale meeting scale. 

Susie stopped her applause and raised her hands to her mouth. The purple turned pink monster appeared to be shouting something at the combatants, but no words came out. At that moment, Kris noticed that the whole world had gone silent. Shock struck him hard and fast when he heard a series of bangs echo across the landscape, which seemed to originate from somewhere close to his head. So great was his shock that he rolled to his side and off the edge of a close by cliff he failed to notice before it was too late.

\-----

Kris hit his bedroom floor with a resounding thud. His left funny bone took the brunt of the impact and he yelped as he floundered about on the cold wooden floor. The young man pressed his right hand to the aching spot in an attempt to relieve some of the pain. No dice, the sharp throb trailed up and down his arm for several seconds before it began to abate.

Susie stifled a chuckle as she watched all this unfold from her frozen spot outside the window. As the hapless human flailed about, the dragoness noticed Kris’s choice of sleep wear. Gone was his normal semi-formal attire. In place of his usual green and yellow sweater and brown collared shirt he wore a gray beater. Instead of his brown slacks, he wore a pair of baggy, drawstring shorts that were the same color as his top.

After giving Kris a moment to get himself sorted, Susie tapped on the window again. If the human's brown hair didn't obscure his eyes, Susie was certain she would have seen them bulge from their sockets when Kris turned to see who was at his window.

Upon seeing his friend perched outside, Kris shot to his feet and threw open the window. A split second after her path was clear, Susie dove inside. The second the monster’s feet cleared the window, Kris slammed it shut.

Thankful to have found true respite from the cold that assaulted her since her flight from her father. The dragon girl curled up into a ball on the wood floor doing her best to halt the shaking coursing across every inch of her.

Witnessing the sorry state his friend was in, Kris leapt to his bed and ripped the comforter off of it. He then tossed the blanket over Susie and began tucking it under her to help trap as much of her waning body heat in as possible.

For her part, Susie didn't say a word the entire time Kris worked the blanket’s edges under her. Not that she could, her jaw was quivering too hard to allow her to form words. It was only then, away from the cold, that she realized how close the ice and snow had been to outdoing anything her dad would have done to her.

When he felt like he’d done a good job of tucking Susie in, Kris took a knee beside her and began to rub his hands up and down his monstrous friend’s side. Under regular circumstances, Kris would have kept his mitts to himself since friends weren’t supposed to go around feeling each other up. Plus Susie was never, as she put it, the “touchy-feely” type. But this was a dire circumstance, and Kris figured his draconic friend would appreciate any source of warmth he could offer.

As Kris did his best to heat up his frozen friend, he noticed how blue her face was. For reasons he couldn’t even begin to fathom, she looked like she’d spent a good hour or more out in what he figured would go down in the record books as the single coldest night in Hometown’s history. Kris continued to supply Susie with hand-based heat until she’d regained enough feeling in her fingers to take hold of the blanket encasing her, and pull it around her tighter.

A bit more time passed before Kris asked the question that had been on his mind since Susie dove through his window. “Hey uh Sus... you okay?”

In response, Susie nodded and attempted to speak; however, her teeth were chattering too much to allow her to form words. After a brief pause, Susie focused as best she could at controlling her clattering claptrap and forced herself to spit out a simple, “Better. Th-thanks f-f-freak.”

“Yeah, uh… no problem.” Kris murmured in response.

An awkward silence hung over the two as neither was sure who should speak next and what that person should say.

\-----

A few minutes passed in quiet, save for the *click, click, click* of Susie’s teeth. Seeing as the dragoness was still next to useless from how cold she was, Kris took the initiative and asked the incapacitated girl another question. “So any reason you were out in the cold dressed like that? You realize you could have di— got seriously messed up, right?”

From her position on the floor and the angle Kris was looking down at her from, Susie could see the human’s red eyes. In them, she saw a mix of concern and fear. Susie figured it was because those eyes were such barometers for her friend's feelings that he kept them hidden most of the time.

 _Not like I can blame you for it, dude, putting all that out there is how you get hurt. Hell, been there, done that._ Susie thought as she continued to remain silent and stare into Kris’s eyes.

Realizing she’d not answered Kris’s question and seeing his lips curl down into a worried frown, Susie figured she needed to at least try and give a reply. But telling Kris everything wouldn’t do anyone any good; instead, she fell back to her tried and true method of handling probes that went too deep, she told a half-truth.

“D-dad and I got in an argument.” Susie began. “H-he was yelling. I d-didn’t want to hear it. I left. P-probably should have g-grabbed a j-jacket and actual p-pants. B-but I was p-pissed and you know… not th-thinking straight. I-I just wanted to be out of there. I-I told you how he acts when he gets mad.”

“Yeah, you have. I’m sorry that happened, Susie. Really, I am.” Kris spoke as he tried to determine if it was worth pressing his friend for more information about the argument between her and her father. He knew she and her dad didn't get along. Given Susie’s miserable state, he figured marking her relive the blow up would do nothing but put her in a worse mood. So he opted not to push the matter.

Do you… do you need another blanket or something to help warm up?” Kris asked. “If you want, I can grab you a pair of Asriel’s old clothes.” Kris stopped for a minute as he tried to reconcile whether any of the clothes Asriel left in the closet across the rooms would be large enough to fit Susie. “They’d probably fit…” He mumbled as he rose to his feet and started towards the closet.

“Y-yeah, b-both those sound g-good to me.” Susie stammered. Despite her best efforts and the blanket covering her, she was having zero luck getting any warmer.

Kris nodded in response as he pulled open the closet door. After a bit of digging, he pulled out a pair of pink sweatpants and a mint green hoodie that he recalled Asriel lounging around in shortly before he departed for school after his last visit home. _Azzy is taller, but Susie is more… robust... I THINK it should balance out. Plus, the pants have a tail hole._ The human thought as he placed the clothing on the floor next to him and then turned his attention back to locating blankets.

After a second, Kris looked up and saw, sitting on a shelf roughly three feet above his head, a stack of blankets. Kris sighed as he realized he would have to either jump or pull out the step stool deeper in the closet to reach them. _Man, living in a home built for monsters really sucks sometimes._ He thought as he pondered on how to proceed.

Without an audience watching, Kris would not have taken umbrage with the issue. But, with Susie behind him, he felt acutely aware of his short stature.

“W-what’s the hold up, freak?” Susie called from across the room. “C-can’t reach? N-need a hand?”

Kris turned to see a smug smirk working its way across Susie’s near frozen maw. Usually, that sneer would have upset him, but seeing as it was the first bit of good humor Susie exhibited since tumbling through his window, he took no offense. The sight was enough to bring a tiny grin to his stoic facade.

He then ducked down and yanked the stool out of the back of the closet, set it up, and proceeded to pull down the stack of blankets from the high shelf. Kris then tossed the borrowed clothes on top of the blankets and returned to the mauve monster’s side. Once there, he layered blanket after blanket over her.

Kris figured that the first few blankets would not make much difference, but when Susie was still a shivering mess with the entire stack on top of her, he felt dread wrap a cold fist around his heart and squeeze. He knew enough about monster biology to understand that, barring a few outliers, even their bizarre anatomies did not make them immune to the dangers posed by extreme elements.

Kris held his breath as he watched his friend continue to shiver for several minutes under the mountain of blankets he’d draped over her. Then, Susie’s shaking began to lessen. It was hard to notice at first, but after a few minutes, the dragoness felt the hands of dread grandfather winter release their grip on her.

With the feeling returning to most of her extremities, even her stump of a tail, Susie sat up. Her shifting about caused several of the blankets atop her to fall to the ground around her. Susie reached a hand out to grab them and found her scaled mitt filled with the brightest — bordering on gaudiest — pieces of attire she had ever seen in her life. The drake turned to Kris, who shrugged in response to the stink eye she shot him. “It was the biggest set of clothes I could find, not like you could fit in anything of mine.”

“You calling me fat, freak?” Susie huffed through a sneer. The former bully saw Kris flinch in response. Before the boy could stammer out a response, Susie gave a single grunt of laughter. “Just messing with you, dude! Thanks for the gear. Looks like the shit toothpaste boy wore in the Dark World.

Susie shook the blankets off her and pulled the sweatpants and hoodie over her own attire. She was grateful Kris’s brother, unlike most boss monsters, had a tail, and thus, his clothes came equipped with a tail hole. It was a snug fit for her thick posterior protrusion, but she was grateful nonetheless. She knew from experience how uncomfortable wearing pants without one could get even if it was for only a little while.

“Are you… are you really going to wear two sets of sweatpants, Sus?” Kris inquired.

“Yeah…” Susie responded as she squinted at Kris. “Otherwise, I’d have to take mine off. Doubt you wanna see my fat ass or ratty panties…”

Susie saw Kris’s face go bright red in response to her last remark, which caused her to huff out a few more puffs of half-thawed laughter.

“Why don’t you just shut up and help me get those blankets back on, huh?” Susie chuckled as she smiled at her friend. Even with still being a quarter frozen, she couldn’t pass up a chance to mess with him. It made things feel normal, and Angel knew that is all she wanted at the moment.

Kris smiled and did as Susie asked. A few seconds later, she felt the heft of several pounds of blankets wrap around her shoulders, like the world’s thickest shawl. Susie then set about trying to get comfy on her spot on the floor. By the time she’d finished resituating herself, she was facing towards the bedroom window. Looking up and out through the frosty panes of glass, she could see a starless night sky, the only source of illumination being a sliver of the moon that peeked through the storm clouds shrouding the heavens.

Kris plopped down on the floor beside Susie and joined her in gazing out the window. There the pair sat in silence, time slipping by with neither noticing. This time, the silence between them felt natural, like the type they often fell into whenever they hung out. Eventually, the quiet began to lull Kris to sleep.

\-----

Susie only noticed Kris’s sleeping state when she felt his head come to rest on her shoulder. With a gentle and careful turn, she managed to see his chest rise and fall with shallow, rhythmic breaths.

With as much care as she could muster, Susie worked her hand out from under the blankets and placed it upon Kris’s shoulder, which she gave a light shake. “Hey freak, wakey wakey; I ain’t a pillow.” The ex-bully whispered, the softness of her own voice surprising her.

“Hmm?” Kris mumbled as he broke from sleep’s embrace. It took him a few seconds to make sense of the situation he found himself in, but once he was able to put the pieces together, a sheepish look contoured his features. “OH! Sorry, didn’t mean to nod off like that!”

“Nah nah, it’s fine, freak; it’s fine. It IS late, and I DID wake you up.” Susie spoke through a grin as she did her best to dismiss Kris’s concern by waving her claw. “I should probably uh… figure out where I’m spending the rest of the night. I’d guess Dad’s cooled off by now. He’s probably already passed ou-er in bed. Plus he’s pulling a double tomorrow, so odds are good I straight up won’t see him...” Susie’s eyes lit up with tempered hope as she realized she could be in the clear for at least a little longer.

“Wh-what!?” Kris piped before he remembered the time and dropped his voice to a whisper. “Go out in this weather dressed like that? You barely made it here without freezing, no way you’d make it home! Un uh, not gonna happen, I won’t let you do something that dumb!”

“Damn, freak. No need to blow a gasket.” Susie snorted. She couldn't think of a time she’d ever seen Kris so agitated. _Wow, he DOES care about me, a lot I guess..._ She thought as her eyes widened in surprise from her friend’s visceral response.

“Well since you won’t let me leave, where am I gonna sleep, huh?” Susie’s eyes then narrowed as ."she replied to her own question before Kris could respond. “Oh, I get it, Dreemurr. This is all some plan to get me in bed. I knew you were a freak, but wow. Ha!” Susie ended her proclamation with the biggest shit-eating grin she could muster.

Whatever Kris was trying to say got stuck halfway out his throat, and the now flustered human started to choke on his own words. The coughing only deepened the hue of red on the boy’s cheeks.

In response, Susie did her best to stifle a massive wave of guffaws that would have woken everyone on the block. She bit down on the heel of one of her hands to be sure nothing squeaked out and used the other to swat Kris on the back a few times to help him catch his breath.

“Damn, dude. Don’t go dying on me, I was just messing with you. You’re a freak, not a creep. I know you wouldn't wanna put the moves on me...” Susie’s words came out with far more earnestness than she’d planned.

Before Susie could go too far down the path of self-depreciation, Kris managed to regain his ability to speak. “N-no, of course not! I… I was going to say you can use Azzy’s bed. Mom has her monthly teacher’s breakfast meeting tomorrow. She'll probably get up and zip right off to that. By the time she gets back home and sees you here, she’ll think you came over at a normal time.

“Wow, freak. That’s pretty clever, sneaky too. Am I rubbing off on you?”

“Nah, I don’t need your help with that. You remember who TPed Berdly’s house in record time on Halloween, right?”

“Yeah yeah, the one time I ever saw you move quicker than a walk.”

The two both began to giggle at Susie’s last comment. The laughing continued as the pair got up from the floor and each made their way to their respective beds. Kris took a minute to grab one of the dropped blankets and spread it across his bed while Susie, still toting most of the blankets Kris tossed on her earlier, collapsed onto Asriel’s bed on the other side of the room.

After he’d snuggled himself back into his preferred position, Kris turned his head so he could look over at Susie. He saw her doing her best to get comfortable without upsetting the mass of blankets swaddling her. For a second, as Kris looked upon his friend, he could have sworn he saw a forlorn look consume Susie’s face. But a blink of an eye later, and Kris could no longer see even a trace of the expression.

“Good night, Sus.” Kris called as he turned over in his bed and put his back to the dragon.

“Night, freak. Thanks again… for everything.” Susie felt her cheeks warm as she spoke and was thankful Kris couldn’t see her.

“What are friends for?” The human replied as he closed his eyes. Within a few minutes of his head hitting the pillow, Kris was out like a light.

\-----

After a few minutes of tossing, turning, and forcing her eyes shut, Susie realized sleep would not come to her. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but something seemed off about the way she felt. 

At first, she thought it was her body acclimating to being warm again. This notion passed after the dragon began to feel sweat form on her forehead, neck, pits, and thighs. In response, the drakanoid kicked a good chunk of the blankets off herself and onto the floor besides the bed. Still feeling steamed, Susie peeled Asriel’s too tight hoodie and sweatpants off as well. Having shed several pounds of insulation and after waiting a few minutes, the monster girl felt herself cool down to a pleasant temperature.

With homeostasis restored, Susie figured she would be able to fall asleep. Yet still the odd feeling persisted. It gnawed at her no matter how much she willed her mind to go blank. A groan escaped Susie’s mouth as she resigned herself to a sleepless night. _Not like that’s new._ She thought as she rolled over so she was facing towards Kris’s side of the room. As she did so, she noticed that the door was ajar. This realization caused another layer of sweat to soak her, but unlike before, this lather left her hide feeling cold, feeling clammy.

Without thinking, Susie popped out of her borrowed bed and made her way towards the open aperture. As she maneuvered across the floor, she kept her eyes peeled for anything she could bump into.

 _Dad catches me up this late he’ll…_ Susie thought before her jaw dropped and her eyes went wide in realization of her situation. Her father wasn't a lurking presence outside the door, but miles away, perhaps still stuck in her bedroom window. This revelation hit Susie like a ton of bricks, and she stopped where she stood, at the foot of Kris’s bed, her back turned towards it.

 _He ain’t gonna barge in here tonight and shout at me for leaving a fork out._ Susie contemplated as the gears in her head began to whir. _He ain’t gonna shout at the TV either. Or wreck up the joint cause his boss reamed him out for working while sloshed._

As Susie pondered the implications of a night away from her father, the muscles in her shoulders began to slacken, their perpetual tension working away by her thinking through what the absence of her dear old dad meant. The list of things she no longer needed to worry about grew at an exponential rate while the feeling from before continued to chew on her brain. Then the mental block crumbled, and Susie realized what it was she was feeling.

 _Safe._ It was this sole word, no, this sole concept that pushed every other thought from her tired and frazzled mind. It was a feeling she wasn't used to having. Sure she let her guard down when she was away from home, but she never felt at liberty to drop it all the way. _Not until tonight... not until now… not until I was here with…_ Susie craned her neck and looked at her friend’s sleeping form.

“Oh shit.” Susie mouthed as she plopped herself at the foot of Kris’s bed. As she did so, the springs of the twin mattress voiced their discontent. Upon hearing this, Susie hoped that the noise hadn’t awoken her sleeping friend. But as she turned around to check, she saw to her chagrin that the human was stirring from his sleep.

\-----

Kris wasn't sure why he was awake again, but he knew that something wasn’t right. Shock struck him when he looked across the room and didn't see Susie in Asriel’s bed. He prepared to go investigate but stopped when a cough from the end of his bed caught his attention.

Kris looked at the source of the noise and raised an inquisitive eyebrow at what he saw. Sitting there, looking over him, was Susie.

After Kris got himself sorted, he realized there was something wrong with his best friend. He could tell due to the way she sat, slumped and diminished, and how her eyes lacked their usual luster.

Susie didn't say anything but after a few seconds of unbroken staring passed, the monster drew her legs up off the edge of the bed and towards her torso. Once her thighs and knees were tight against her belly and breasts, she wrapped her arms around them and began to rock herself.

Not knowing what was wrong, but determined to help in any way he could, Kris sat up and began to speak. “Hey, it’s… it’s gonna be okay, Susie.” As he spoke, he crawled to the foot of the bed and sat next to the rocking monster. If Susie heard or noticed him moving closer, she didn't say anything.

In an attempt to get her attention, Kris placed a hand on Susie’s forearm. Sure enough, that managed to get her to acknowledge his presence.

\-----

Kris’s touch snapped Susie out of her haze and she turned to look at him. Her expression was a mix of sadness and exhaustion. She tried to speak, but only let out a long exhale. Susie then took a deep breath and let the silence hang between them before finally speaking. “Forget it.” She mumbled as she prepared to rise from the bed. “Not your problem... never was.”

Before Susie could go anywhere though, she felt Kris’s hold on her arm tighten. She stared at the human’s small hand wrapped around three-fifths of her forearm, shocked by the strength of Kris’s grip. It wasn't enough to hurt, but enough to make it obvious he wanted her to stay. Too sapped to even consider a game of tug-o-war, Susie slumped back down on the bed and turned to face the human.

Rather than say anything, Kris instead leaned over the edge of his bed and reached down towards the floor. He fished around for a bit until he pulled up one of the blankets that had spilled from the pile he’d erected on Susie earlier. Then, with a bit of finesse, he managed to drape the blanket first over Susie’s shoulders and then his own. After the blanket was in place, Kris scooted right up next to Susie so that they were no more than a hand’s breadth apart.

The two sat like that for a few seconds before Kris felt Susie scooch a hair closer to him. He turned to see that she’d removed her arms from around her legs and planted one of her hands in the space between them. There it remained, both the human and the monster staring at it. Then with great trepidation, Susie raised the hand off the bed and placed it on Kris’s bicep that was closest to her.

With her hand in place, Susie slid it up along Kris’s arm, over his shoulder, across the base of his neck, and let it come to rest on the shoulder furthest from her. She then glided her hand down his arms, the tips of her claws tracing along the human’s skin, until it reached the point above his elbow.

It was at this moment that Susie froze. She kept her hand pressed to Kris’s arm as she steadied her nerves. _This could wreck so much._ She thought as she played through in her mind a thousand different ways Kris could react to what she was thinking about doing. _Heh... he probably already guessed how messed up I am. What’s me getting a little mushy all a sudden gonna hurt?_

With that, Susie tightened her grip on Kris’s arm and followed up by placing her other hand on the shoulder connected to that arm. She then tugged the tiny human up against her side until the bare flesh of his lower thigh pressed against her sweatpants clad one.

Neither spoke a word after Susie finished reshuffling Kris. Then, in utter silence, Susie turned her head and laid it atop Kris’s, while wrapping her other arm around him. As she settled her head atop his, Kris returned his best friend's embrace.

Surprise overtook Kris as he found himself pressed up against Susie’s soft side. He’d never figured her to be some sort of little miss iron body; after all, Susie had never made any attempt to hide her stout frame from him, or anyone for that matter. Yet, he thought she would have felt sturdier by virtue of being well… Susie; the tough girl who never flinched, who never faltered, who feared nothing. The girl with far more going on behind that tough exterior than even he, her best friend, knew. At least, that was what he gathered from the way Susie was tightening her hold of him.

\-----

A few minutes into their embrace, Kris placed a hand on Susie’s back. The second one of his fingertips contacted with Susie, Kris felt her flinch and heard her let out a surprised hiss. In response, Kris peeled his hand away like he’d touched a hot stove. He waited for Susie to shove him away from her, but instead, she only took a deep breath before she slipped her head off his and placed her maw level with the side of his head. “S-sorry.” She muttered to Kris, her breath tickling his ear and sending an odd sensation coursing down his neck and spine. “You can… you can put your hand back if you want. I promise not to freak. I uh... just got some sore spots back there is all. I uh… fell when I was running away fr—” Susie cut herself off before she could spill any more beans.

“Uh… Susie.” Kris began as he tried to put his thoughts in order. “Tonight… whatever it was that happened between you and your dad, it… it was bad, wasn’t it? At least, it was worse than what normally happens between you two, yeah?

As Kris finished speaking, he both heard and felt Susie sucking in a long breath. When Susie didn't respond, Kris figured she was doing so to keep from blowing up at him for sticking his nose where she’d told him before it didn't belong. When no angry growl came forth, Kris turned his head up to look Susie in the eyes. A short while ago, those eyes were lackluster, now they were near lifeless.

“Honestly, dude.” Susie started as she gathered every nerve she hadn't frayed to nothing during her flight from her father. “I won’t lie. It was bad; actually, it was freakin’ awful… but it was a lot better than a lot of our fights. I managed to get out the apartment before he… before he got a shot in.”

Susie screwed her eyes shut as she at last revealed to Kris, after months of hiding it, the depths of how violent the relationship between herself and her father was. She knew that friends shared these sorts of things, to help one another through rough times; however, having never had a confidant before, Susie didn’t know how to talk about such things. Especially when those things were so dark, so personal, so prone to evoking pitying looks and hollow reassurances.

After what felt like hours, Susie managed to open her eyes. As she did so, she released Kris from her hug, wrapped her hands around his arms, and rearranged him so that he was looking up at her. As she did so, she spoke again. “You gotta promise me that you’ll never, and I mean never, say a damn word about that to anyone, got it?”

Due to his looking up at Susie, Kris’s bangs shifted to reveal his eyes. Eyes that were the size of saucers and locked on Susie’s grim facade. Seconds passed after Susie’s grand revelation, and the human didn't move; he didn't even blink. For a second, Susie thought she’d stunned him with the strength of the blast from the metaphorical bomb she’d dropped on him. But then, with incredible deliberateness, the human gave the dragoness a single, deep nod of his head, never once breaking eye contact with her.

Then, with all the caution of a snake handler approaching an agitated serpent, Kris placed one arm on the nape of Susie’s neck and the other on her shoulder. He then tugged her head down until he’d nestled her face into the crook of his neck and her snout rested against his collar bone. The whole time, Susie didn't so much as make a token effort to resist his guidance. After the human was sure the monster was secure against him, he placed his chin on her shoulder and then rubbed circles on her neck and back. Again, the monster made no move to stop him and instead allowed Kris’s touch to soothe an ache in her she’d grown so used to feeling.

Susie drifted in a pleasant daze as she allowed Kris to comfort her. She realized as she floated through her own mind that it had been many, many years since anyone had touched her like that, let alone held her. The dragoness would have pondered the exact amount of time in greater detail had an odd, warm, and wet sensation forming where Kris was resting his chin against her shoulder not broken her stupor.

To investigate the sensation, the dragon, with as much gentleness as she was capable, untangled herself from Kris’s hold. As Susie pulled away from the human, she saw his slumped shoulders and drooping head, which had caused his bangs to obscure his eyes once more. Susie watched him until she saw two tears fall from behind his hair and patter against the bed cover upon which she and Kris sat.

Susie didn’t know how to respond to what she was seeing. Anytime she had thought about telling someone about her and her dad, she always expected she would have been the one who’d end up blubbering, not the person she told. After a second, Susie extended a hand and placed it on Kris’s shoulder. She gave it a squeeze and a push to try and get him to look up at her.

Kris turned his gaze towards Susie’s face, but only after he’d swiped at his eyes with the back of his hand to catch any lingering tears. “Ye-yeah?” Kris croaked as he fought to keep his voice from cracking.

“It’s okay, dude. You don’t gotta get all weepy over my shit.” Susie began as a tired yet sincere smile appeared on her face. “But it’s nice to know you care and all that junk.”

“Of course I care, Sus.” Kris replied, still fighting to regain full control of his voice. “You’re my best friend… my only friend, and I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you. I… why didn’t you tell me sooner? I promise I wouldn’t have said anything to anyone. I would have helped you! I would have found a way for you to not have to go back there every night... if I’d know I would have—”

“I told you earlier, not your problem. Never was.” Susie stated in a firm but reassuring tone. She wanted to make it clear to Kris that he hadn’t failed her. She’d chosen to keep her secret from him. She knew she was good at hiding it. The fact that even her closest friend never suspected a thing was a testament to how much practice she had with keeping the matter hidden. “I didn’t want you to worry or pity me or some gay shit like that. I ain't a little girl who can’t take care of herself.”

“But if you’d told me.” Kris reiterated as he tried to sway Susie to his way of thinking. “We could have stopped him from doing anything to you, from hurting you, from chasing you out of your own home!” As he spoke the last few words, Kris’s voice began to crack, and he forced himself to stop talking to save face.

“Dude, I appreciate it and all, but I don’t think you and I could do much more than I have. What were you gonna do, ask your mom if I could sleepover forever? Fight my dad like we did the King?”

At the mention of their past adventure, a change came over Kris’s features. A confident look, one that seemed to imply he would be more than happy to do what Susie suggested.

“Holy shit, freak!” Susie guffawed and began to try and get her voice down to a level that would not wake the dead. “This ain’t the Dark World; we aren’t legendary heroes here. We’re just a pair of losers, one of which has a pile of shit for a dad. Plus, you barely survived taking a bullet for me from the King. You think you could hold up to something that did this to me?”As she posed her question, Susie turned herself around so that her back was facing towards Kris. She then grabbed hold of the hem of her t-shirt and pulled it up above the midpoint of her back. There, to the left of her spine, was a near-black bruise the shape and size of a russet potato. Further down and to the right, was a diagonal line of scales that seemed to not know which way they should be laying, some stuck up, some ground against one another, and some were missing.

Susie turned and looked over her shoulder at Kris as she revealed a sampling of her father’s handiwork. She wasn't surprised to see the human’s blank expression. For a second, she thought about cracking a dark joke, but the shock creeping onto Kris’s feature made her reconsider. So she kept her mouth shut and allowed the human to process what he saw at his own pace.

\-----

Kris felt like someone had taken hold of his stomach and squeezed it as they yanked it down past his pelvis. He sat on the bed, his eyes darting between the giant bruise and the scar, back and forth, back and forth. This continued until Kris felt his lungs throb; he’d been holding his breath since laying eyes on Susie’s surprise. He unclenched his jaw and allowed it to drop so that he could suck in a massive gulp of air.

“Yeah.” Susie began. “It uh… it ain’t pretty, but it’s not that bad, right? I mean, at least he never messed up my face, well... too bad anyway.” Susie finished with a shrug and a half-hearted smile that fell from her mouth a second later. Kris responded by turning his gaze from Susie’s back so he was looking her in the eye. In response, Susie pulled her t-shirt down so it once more covered her back and turned herself around towards Kris.

“I uh, I guess I dropped a lot on you there.” Susie spoke, hoping to get Kris to say something. She was starting to get worried that she may have gone too far or too fast with letting Kris in on her secret. In a flash, a scene of Kris pointing to the window and beckoning for her to leave played across her mind. Susie saw herself rise from the bed, open the window, crawl through it, and let herself drop off the edge of the roof. Kris speaking pulled the dragoness from her waking nightmare.

“What was that?” Susie asked, her eyes focusing as she shook the dark images from her brain.

“I said, are you okay?” Kris repeated, concern dripping from his every word.

“Oh yeah, dude. I’m fine, not like it's anything new!” Susie’s features were sullen. It wasn't a look of rage or disgust, but one of resigned acceptance. The kind of look a person wears when given a chore they know is necessary, but unpleasant.

“How long… how long has this been going on?”

“Oh uh…” Susie trailed off. She knew exactly how old she was when it all started, she knew it like she knew the back of her hand. What she didn't know was how much detail to give Kris. Seeing how much she’d already let slip, Susie figured there was no point in pulling punches and opted to give Kris the whole truth.

“Since I was a little kid.” She said after getting her thoughts ordered. “It was pretty light back then. A slap here, a spanking there. It only got bad when those stopped working. Guess I got too tough for him… After that, it got more extreme until he gave me that scar.” As she spoke, Susie cocked a thumb towards the diagonal line running down her back. “Even he knew he went too far that time. Still hurts like a bitch every now and then, ‘specially ‘round shedding season. Ever since then, he only punches me, kicks me, pulls me around by my hair; stuff that I can hide easy.”

Kris sat silent for a minute before he asked his next question. “Is that where you always get hit then, your back?”

Susie shrugged. “Not sure, I don’t really keep track. Honestly, I try not to think about it. But yeah, I guess he usually gets me when I try and book it. I may not be a track start like Noelle or Jockington, but I’m faster than him.”

“And aside from you and HIM...” Susie saw the human’s mouth curl into a sneer as he referred to her dad, as though he’d tasted something from the bottom of a dumpster. “I’m the only other person that knows?”

“Far as I know.” Susie replied as she lifted her hands, palms up. “If I gotta guess, I’d say he probably says something ‘bout ‘teaching me to mind my manners’ to his drinking buddies. But other than that, I doubt he goes around bragging ‘bout beating his daughter. He’s a dumb, mean sack of shit, but even he ain’t that stupid.”

Susie found that talking about things was making a very unfamiliar sensation well up inside her. She had no name for it; all she knew was it felt squirmy, and she could tell it was trying to wiggle up and out her mouth. The drakonid didn't intend to let it do so and clamped her teeth down to prevent its escape. The sound of her maw snapping shut echoed through the still bedroom air.

Whatever Kris had been saying, Susie missed, as the clack of her sudden chomp quitted the boy before he could finish or before she could ask him to repeat himself. The following silence was heavy, the weight of it pressed down on the pair and caused each to droop where they sat.

Kris broke the quiet when he moved next to Susie, and taking care to not brush against the bruise or scar on her back, wrapped his arm around her. After a few seconds of wondering if he’d gone too far, Susie returned the hold, and the two sat there like that until Susie upped the ante.

Something about Kris’s touch soothed her in a way nothing else ever had. Those fine, artistic digits drew lines of release and balm across every t-shirt clad scale they glided over. An odd impulse came over Susie and without thinking it over, she began to act on it. The command was a basic notion, one dredged up from the most base part of her brain: _more._

Susie followed the orders of her lizard brain by repositioning her hands on Kris; one between his shoulder blades and the other on the small of his back. She then hefted the diminutive human into her lap so that his legs were perpendicular to hers.

Susie’s sudden seizure of his person shocked Kris. His shock doubled when he found himself seated in Susie’s lap. His shock tripled when Susie bear hugged him as tight as she could against herself. Before either realized what was going on, Kris found his face buried in Susie’s neck, his chin resting atop her breasts, his chest and abdomen squashed against her soft belly, and his rear seated on her plush thighs.

\-----

After regaining his senses, Kris took stock of his current situation. His best friend had dropped the mother of all bombshells into his lap then followed up by pulling him into HER lap. In any other situation, he would have been sweating bullets as he fought down both embarrassment and arousal. But right now, his focus was on figuring out what Susie needed from him. Yet, despite his best efforts, he couldn’t come up with anything to say or do.

Luckily for Kris, Susie provided the information he’d spent the past several minutes racking his brain for. “Please keep going.” Susie pleaded in a tone that was like that of a lost child, but one that had seen the guiding light to sanctuary. “It… it helps...”

“Wh-what?”

“The thing you were doing before I moved you. You know, the thing with your hands?”

“I was only rubbing your back.”

“Was that all you were doing? It felt weird like… er I don’t know. Like it was more than that or something?”

“No, I was just running my fingers up and down your scales…” The volume of Kris’s voice dropped off as he realized what he was saying and so he ended up next to unaudiable by the time he finished speaking.

“Hey freak, don’t go getting embarrassed or anything. You ain’t the one that just told your best friend that your own dad beats the shit out of you whenever he gets pissed, drunk, or piss drunk.”

It took Kris a second to figure out how to respond to that one. After a minute, he figured that Susie was right, there was nothing he should feel embarrassed about. So he did as Susie asked, turned himself towards his friend and resumed rubbing her back.

After a few cycles of amateur massage, Kris felt Susie begin to relax. She let herself tip forward a bit leaving Kris to support her not inconsiderable weight. As she did so, Susie made a noise that made clear how powerful the effect the boy’s touch was having on her. Once more, the human fought down the instincts and desires championed by his ever more tumultuous hormones. This is NOT the time. He mentally screamed to himself in an attempt to deflate his growing erection.

After a bit of time, Kris managed to get himself under control and focus on the task at hand. An idea struck him then and he moved one of his hands up Susie’s back and to the base of her neck. The second the human’s fingers touched Susie’s bare scales, she sucked in a sharp inhale.

Out of instinct, Kris flung his hand off of Susie’s neck for fear he overstepped a boundary. In response, Susie reached behind herself and took hold of the wrist attached to the offending appendage. She then guided it back to her neck and pressed it against her hide. “P-Please...” She stammered into Kris’s ear. “Keep going.”

Kris did as Susie said, paying no heed to the way her breathing was transitioning into a series of rapid pants or the fact that his shorts were feeling far, far more restrictive than they did when he started. He continued rubbing Susie’s neck until she took hold of his hand again. This time, the young woman pulled the boy’s hand down to the base of her back and slid it up and under her shirt. “Like you were doing on my neck.” Susie whimpered as she released Kris’s hand so he could resume.

“S-sure.” Kris huffed, his breathing fast and on its way to being a perfect mimic of Susie’s.

Kris started low on Susie’s back and worked his way up. His hand came to a sudden stop when one of his digits brushed against the misplaced scales that made up Susie’s scar. Kris leaned back from Susie and looked her in the eyes to see if he should skip over the area or if there was another route she preferred he take.

“Gentle.” Was Susie’s whispered response to the human’s unspoken question.

With a nod of his head, Kris leaned back up against Susie’s supple body and resumed his work.

With as much care as possible, Kris began to work his fingers over the ill aligned scales that ran along Susie’s scar. The first touch provoked a grunt from the dragoness, so Kris lightened his touch further until it felt to him that only the tips of his nails glided along Susie’s hide. This seemed to do the trick as Susie showed no further signs of discomfort.

After having worked over the scarred area, Kris continued walking his fingers up Susie’s back. As he did so, he felt himself supporting more of Susie’s weight as she let herself relax further and further.

When Kris came to the location of Susie’s bruise, he avoided the area as he already knew that even a light touch was enough to hurt his friend. After a couple minutes, Kris felt his hand reach the base of Susie’s neck and upon doing so, heard her let out a breath that he sensed she’d been holding for quite some time. “Damn...” Was the only word the stunned semi serpent stammered in response to Kris completing his work.

\-----

Susie let herself lean on Kris for support for several minutes after she no longer felt his hand working her back. The time Kris had spent petting her were the most comforting minutes Susie had experienced in ages. Yet, the human’s touch was more than a comforting one; the heat and dampness radiating from between her legs made that fact quite clear to her.

Susie felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment over having gotten so worked up by her friend’s sympathetic caress. _He was doing that to HELP you._ She mentally chided herself. _He wasn't doing that to make you hor— er to get you like this... He’s your friend, he ain’t into you like that anyway..._

To help get herself calmed down, Susie placed both her hands on Kris’s arms and unlatched him from her torso. As she did so, Susie could have sworn she felt Kris resist, as if he was bound and determined to continue cuddling her. But the resistance, if it ever actually was there, faded away within a second, and the human allowed the dragon to move him. Said move resulted in a gap of a little more than a foot between the pairs’ torsos.

“Th-thanks for that.” Susie sputtered as she scratched at the back of her head.

“N-no problem. What are uh… friends for?” Kris panted as he gave Susie an uncertain smile.

Both were still feeling the effects of such intimate touching, and neither would dare broach the subject for fear of how the other would react. Kris knew how to stamp down such urges and indulgences since he grew up in an Angel fearing household. But, Susie wasn't beholden to such lofty morality and chaste ideas. Her thoughts were far more self-serving, but also gregarious.

Her friend had helped her in a way that she could never put into words. For the first time in what felt like ages, Susie didn't feel like she needed to be on edge, didn't need to be ever vigilant. She felt like she could relax, and that made her feel good in a way that she’d almost forgotten existed. Now she wanted to make Kris feel good too. She guessed she couldn’t make him feel the same way, but she needed to try at least.

“Alright, your turn.” Susie stated as she placed her hands on Kris’s back and yanked him against her front. The human made no move to stop the manhandling. Not that anything he could have said would have done him any good, such was the tenacity with which Susie was pursuing her self-appointed task.

After she was happy with Kris’s positioning, Susie set about doing to him what he’d done to her. Well, she tried to anyway. Susie’s claw-tipped mits lacked the dexterity and gentle finesse that Kris’s fingers had, so within seconds of her beginning, the human was grunting in pain rather than pleasure.

“Is that a… is that a good noise?” Susie inquired after Kris released his third or forth pained squeak.

“Uh… not really, no...”

“Damn it!” Susie grunted. “Uh, let me try this...” She muttered as she eased up on the pressure and drug her claws up and down Kris’s back. The noise Kris produced as a result told Susie all she needed to know. A smile played across her face for several seconds as she worked over Kris’s back with her claws. That was until she heard a *rip.*

Susie stopped scratching Kris’s back and peered over the human’s shoulder only to see the gash one of her claws tore in the human’s beater. “Shit!” Susie growled as she looked over her mistake.

“Huh?” Kris mumbled like he was coming out of a deep sleep. “Wha’ happen?”

“Your stupid shirt was to weak to handle my claws...”

“Oh, no big deal. I have plenty.” Kris said with a shrug. “But uh… maybe it would be better if you uh… you know… put your cla— hands right on my... back?”

“You sure about that? I did just shred your shirt like a wet newspaper.

“Yeah, I trust you.”

The earnestness of what Kris had said touched Susie to the core. “A-alright then.” She replied as she slid her hands through the armholes of Kris’s tank top.

Soon after, Susie realized the shirt lacked the stretchiness needed to allow her to get in her hands in the correct position. Thus, an incensed Susie yanked her hands out from under the human’s beater with a gruff huff.

“Uh dude… your shirt’s too tight for me to keep going.”

“Oh…” Kris sighed, the disappointment in his tone surprised both the speaker and the listener.

 _He WAS really enjoying that, wasn’t he?_ Susie mused to herself. _Oh I know!_ She thought as she stumbled upon a potential solution to their problem.

“Wait, you can just take your shirt off! That way we won’t gotta worry about me wrecking it.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, Susie felt her limbs go slack, her stomach drop, and her eyes snap shut. _Stupid, so damn stupid!_ She scolded herself. She realized she asked her best friends to strip for her.

Susie kept her eyes shut as she waited for Kris’s response. At first, she expected him to spring off her. When she didn't feel the human stir from his place on her lap, she opened her eyes and looked down at Kris.

“Sure!” He chirped as a smile lit up his face. “I mean ye-yeah, I can do that, n-no problem...”

\-----

Kris wasn't sure why he’d been so enthusiastic about accepting Susie’s request. Well, that was a lie. He knew why, but didn’t want to admit it. In fact, the reason was becoming ever more difficult to ignore every second he spent seated in Susie’s lap.

Susie sent shivers up and down his spine as she ground her claws against his back. And she had gotten that reaction with something between her hand and his skin, now that barrier would be no more. This notion left Kris both giddy and concerned about how he would react.

Realizing he’d been sitting motionless since he responded to Susie’s request and that his friend was giving him a quizzical look, Kris reasoned it was time to act. He grabbed the hem of his beater and pulled it up and over his head in one quick motion.

As Kris pulled off his shirt, Susie realized that she’d never seen him topless before. They’d begun hanging out in the fall, far too cold to go to the lake for a swim. Plus, swimwear did a poor job of covering things, so that made the lake or the local swimming pool the last place Susie wanted to spend her free time.

The first thing Susie noticed was how lithe Kris was. His arms, chest, and stomach were all slim, bordering on scrawny, with a hint of muscle worked in to keep him from looking emaciated. Susie stared at the boy’s defined collar bone, which led her eyes to follow the natural line that formed between his small but firm looking pecs. Susie continued to follow the musculature down past Kris’s chest and to his stomach while also noticing that the young man lacked much body hair. While there were no visible abs, his abdomen looked firm. Below that, Susie could see the slight V that formed via the dip between his abdominals and hip bones.

Kris could feel Susie’s eyes burrowing into him even before he’d pulled his shirt all the way off. He watched her as she eyeballed him up and down, like a thick slice of butterscotch cinnamon pie. After her stare went unbroken for several minutes, he cleared his throat, which seemed to snap Susie out of her daze.

“Oh, sorry ‘bout that, freak. Late night must be getting to me.”

“Yeah… sure.”

“What’s that supposed to mean, Krissy?”

“Nothing, you were really giving me the once over is all.”

“Don’t flatter yourself. I told you my brain lagged out. Must be ‘cause of running around all night and being up so late. Anyway, shut up and come here so I can get a good angle on you.”

With that, Susie placed her hands in Kris’s armpits. Then, with the same effort Kris would use to lift an empty shoebox, the monster hefted the small human off her lap, turned him around so he was facing towards her, and placed him back down so that his legs were stradling hers. As she did so, she made certain not to seat him too far up her thighs. Susie’s reasoning for this was simple, seeing Kris shirtless had only increased the already absurd heat and no small amount of wetness radiating from between her legs.

Susie didn't waste a second. After getting Kris reoriented in her lap, she immediately placed her claws on the boy’s back and began to rub and scratch as she’d been doing before Kris’s shirt had ripped. As she worked, she unintentionally pulled Kris closer and closer towards her. This gradual shifting of positions only ceased when Kris was once more packed up against Susie’s soft torso.

As Susie continued to work over Kris, she felt — rather than heard — the alluring noises her touch was eliciting from him. It was a low thing that came from deep within his chest. Every time Susie felt that declaration of pleasure and comfort reverberate against her plush front, it sent shivers down her spine.

After a few minutes of continuing to massage Kris, Susie felt something warm press against her lower back. She didn't need to look to know that the warmth was coming from Kris’s hands, which he’d snaked under her shirt.

A part of her wanted to feel more of him, no scratch that, all him pressed up against her. To feel him embrace her every inch, to feel his soft, smooth flesh rub over as much of her scaled hide as was possible. But another part of her was hesitant to let things go further. It was the part that always managed to keep her breathing when shit hit the fan. In an instant, she weighed both options and made her decision. For the first time in years, Susie silenced the nagging voice and indulged the one egging her on to enjoy the carnal situation she found herself in.

Kris’s hands didn't remain where they started for long. Susie felt the fingers arch and their tips press against her scales. Once more, the human worked his dexterous magic across her hide. As he moved his hands higher and higher, Susie felt her shirt begin to ride up. And then it happened, Susie felt Kris’s shirtless middle press into her uncovered abdomen. To her, the feeling was borderline orgasmic. She stopped kneading the human’s back and instead wrapped her arms around him and crushed him up against her.

Kris responded to Susie’s bear hug with one of his own, and soon, the two were as connected as was possible. As they were so close, both felt themselves reaching near irresistible levels of lust.

Susie felt her juices soak through the crotch of her panties and leak out onto her inner thighs. As the moment drove her deeper into utter passion, she felt her eyelids spasm and her long, blue tongue lull out the side of her mouth. She also noticed, but couldn’t stop, the descent of her hands down the human’s back and around his sides.

Kris was in the same situation as Susie. He felt his cock throbbing harder and harder with every second he spent mashed against his larger and softer bed mate. He strained his every nerve to keep his jittering pelvis from betraying him, but after resisting for as long as he could, his wherewithal failed and his hips gave the slightest of bucks. It was only a tiny movement, but it was more than enough of one to force the pair to realize what exactly they were heading towards.

\-----

Susie took the initiative and removed her arms from around Kris. She then pushed him down her legs towards her knees. In response, Kris let go of his hold on Susie and allowed her to move him wherever she saw fit. Only after they separated did the pair realize they were both huffing and covered in sweat.

“S-sorry about that.” Kris managed to say after he finally got a good lung full of air. “I-I-I don’t know why I did... THAT.”

“Uh, it’s cool, freak.” Susie said and followed up with a few bits of shaky laughter. “Not like you did it on purpose or nothing.”

“Yeah… yeah I guess not.” Kris’s voice was reedy, unsure. If Susie didn't know any better, she could have sworn that Kris’s words were less than truthful.

“And I get it, you know? I think if you hadn’t done something like that I… I would’ve.”

“Really?” Kris asked. His voice a mixture of disbelief and intrigue.

“Y-yeah, honest. Having you next to me like that. I haven’t felt that good in a long time. I felt… I felt…” Susie forced herself to say the next words. They almost hurt to form, let alone speak. “I felt safe when you were holding me like that. Actually, I usually feel a lot better when I’m around you or doing junk with you, but uh... this was different, better?”

Susie trailed off for a minute as she gathered her thoughts. The monster was deep in unchartered territory. She somewhat knew her feelings, but sure as hell didn't know how to express them. At least not in a way that would not lead to her dying of embarrassment. After some careful consideration, Susie managed to figure out how to word what she needed to say, but there were still a few doubts buzzing in her brain about how Kris would react.

“So when you were touching my back, that made me feel really good. But, when you started going higher up, you kinda started to lift up my shirt.”

“Sorry!” Kris blurted out, red rushing to his face in full force.

“Chill freak, I ain’t pissed or nothing. I’m only trying to explain.” Susie paused for a second before resuming where Kris had interrupted her. “So anyways, when you lifted up my shirt you kinda rubbed your boney little chest up against my gut and it felt... real comfy you know? Like the hand thing you were doing, but more? I guess that’s the best way I can put it.”

“Well since we’re being honest.” Kris began as he fidgeted in place. “I felt the exact same way. About the whole feeling nice thing. I noticed us touching like that and it was kinda what made me do that… thing I did.”

A not uncomfortable silence filled the space between the two as each digested what the other said. That silence could have lasted the rest of the night if Susie didn't speak up right then.

“Hey, freak. We could, you know… try doing that on purpose? Not like it’s gotta get weird or anything like that. I mean not like it felt weird to do that with you to begin with, well it did, but only for the first few seconds. After that it felt good.

“Yeah we’d just be two friends hugging without shirts on is all.”

“Yup, I’m sure people do that all the time, yeah… plus it's not like anyone is around to see us do it—I MEAN SEE US HUG!” Susie’s eyes went wide as she clapped her hands to her maw in an attempt to fix her faux pas.

After a second, it was clear to Susie that Kris either didn't catch what she’d said or chose to ignore the implication. After steeling her nerves, she continued. “So yeah, it wouldn’t be weird or nothing. I mean, it was a shitty night and you’re only trying to make me feel better, right?”

“Of course, anything to help you Susie.” Kris replied, his voice a warm whisper that managed to take the edge off Susie’s frazzled nerves.“Just two friends in the same bed together, topless and hugging. Nothing more...”

Kris’s clear statement caused both of them to blush. No matter how they tried to spin it, they both knew that what they were talking about was far from normal. Each of them contemplated the matter in silence.

 _Screw it!_ Susie thought. _Already in this deep, might as well go all the way..._

“You know, freak.” She began as she scratched at her shoulder. “It would be weirder to be half naked then fully naked, right? Like who’s half naked in a bed with someone? If you're both fully naked and you get caught you can… I don’t know, tell um you were just trying to keep each other warm? Ain’t that what they said to do in that winter safety assembly ICE-E'S P"E"ZZA did for the school a few years ago? Like you both get naked and hold each other and that keeps you from freezing cause you share all your body heat?

Kris stared at Susie, unsure of what to make of the garbled mess of an excuse his friend had spewed out. Was he supposed to agree to something so inane? It took only a moment of contemplation for Kris to reach his decision. He nodded his head as he made a small, but audible gulp.

Susie was uncertain of how to interpret that gulp, but the smile that she saw on her friend’s face made it clear that while he was a little surprised by the request, he would not even consider refusing it.

“Soooo.” Kris began. “H-how do we want to do it? WAIT!” Now it was his turn to fall prey to the trap that tripped up Susie moments ago. “I meant how do we want to set this up, not do it.”

In response, Susie let out what passed as a titter for her. Then Kris giggled. Then Susie laughed. Then Kris guffawed. Then Susie doubled over braying. This continued for a few minutes, each doing their best to keep their outbursts as quiet as possible, but they were both losing that battle.

In fact, both got to laughing so hard that they ended up flat on their backs laughing. Well, Susie was flat on her back. Kris kept himself semi-seated lest he topple off Susie.

\-----

It took the pair a bit of time to get themselves back under control. As they did, Kris made his way off Susie’s lap and next to her on the bed. After their laughter broke the last shreds of tension in the room, they both set about sorting out how to proceed.

It wasn't like either hadn’t seen a member of the opposite sex naked before. Internet porn saw to that. But real life, flesh and blood or dust, that was quite different. A few weeks into them becoming friends, both admitted to still being virgins to one another and each ribbed the other with tons of crap for it, as friends are wont to do.

“So, how we wanna do this?” Susie chuckled through a tired grin.

“I mean we could just get naked right now?” Kris said with a shrug.

Susie shot him a look that said not on his life.

“Alright so what I said before BUT, we don’t look?”

“Like shut our eyes and strip?”

“Yeah, exactly and uh… we keep them closed until we’re both back in bed, under the blanket.”

“Yeah, okay. That actually don’t sound too dumb. And we’re going all the way, right? DAMN IT! You know what I mean, right?”

Susie’s hesitation surprised Kris. He’d figured they’d end up in the buff, but it sounded like the former bully was not so sure. “Whatever you think is best.”

“Man, freak! You know figuring this sort of shit out is why you’re here. I’m just the dumb muscle and rugged good looks.”

Kris shot Susie a big smile and gave a playful snort before giving his own catty response. “I thought you only kept me around cause you liked looking at my butt or something.”

The little exchange got the pair laughing again. Before either knew it, they’d both risen from their spots on the bed, and walked to opposite sides of it. Susie took the side nearest the wall, while Kris took the one nearest the center of the room.

“Alright, on the count of three we close our eyes.” Susie gruffed as she looked over at Kris from across the bed. “And we don’t open ‘em tell after we are both in bed and under the blanket, right?”

“Exactly.” Replied Kris as he gave Susie a curt nod.

“Okay then.” Susie huffed. “Then let’s go.”

“One.” Susie spoke, a slight tremble in her voice.

“Two.” Kris responded, the same effect affecting his own words.

“Three.” They said in unison as the world went dark as they both closed their eyes as tight as they could.

\-----

As Kris stood next to his bed, eyes shut tight, the surreal nature of the situation struck him. Not but a few feet from him his best, only, and very much female friend was getting undressed so that when he followed suit, the two of them could cuddle in bed together... naked. To Kris, the whole thing reeked of a setup for a cheap porno or a cheesy romcom. Neither of those points of comparison did much to settle his nerves or make him feel less odd about the situation.

 _Susie asked me to do this. It’s not like I forced it on her, so why should I feel weird about doing it—er helping?_ He asked in his mind as he struggled to begin disrobing. _She’s my friend, and she just wants someone to hold her, make her feel wanted, make her feel safe, make her feel lov—_

That last, half-said word made Kris’s heart skip a beat, then it proceeded to jackhammer afterwards. _Yeah, now is NOT the time to start thinking that way…_ Kris thought as he did his best to calm down. It wasn't the first time such thoughts wormed their way into his brain. Afternoons spent at a booth in QC’s, Saturdays spent wandering the woods, fires by the lake at dusk, late night chats with Susie sitting outside his window. All that time, all those things pushed his feelings further and further from mere friendship and into...

Not! Now! Kris screamed into his own brain in an attempt to keep it on track. Seeing as he couldn’t coerce his brain to follow his demands, Kris opted to shut it off through force. The human took a deep breath and grabbed the waist of his shorts and boxers, and with a jerk of his arms, sent both pieces of night time attire falling down his legs to the floor.

The human’s thighs and calves were like his abdomen, slim and trim. They were pale, like the rest of him, since even in the summer, he opted to cover up rather than show any skin. The cool air in the room was doing him no favors, but even then, his assets weren’t bad, at least that's what he thought anyway. And he knew enough about himself to know that when it came to growing or showing, he was a member of the former group.

For Kris, the time between pulling off his last bits of clothing and hearing them hit the floor seemed to last eons. In reality, though, the garments took only a second to complete their migration from covering him to lying on the floor. The light *flumph* of his shorts and boxers landing on the wood planks beneath his feet forced Kris to recognize that he was now naked in the same room as Susie.

Shock overtook Kris as he found how easy the next part of the process was. He stepped out of his shorts and boxers, and using his feet and outstretched arms, felt his way to the bed, which he then crawled into. After he settled in under the covers, he took a seated position, then turned in Susie’s direction. “I’m… I’m in bed and uh… ready whenever you are.” Kris trailed off before he said more, chastising himself for saying something that could make the situation more awkward.

\-----

On her side of the bed, blind to the world around her, Susie was doing her best to psyche herself up. _It’s not like you're gonna do anything. And it ain’t like he’s gonna see me or nothing like that. Sure he’ll feel me, but uh, he won’t know what he’s touching… right?_ She thought as a nervous tremor rode its way down her arms.

Susie lost her train of thought when she heard Kris speak. The human indicated that he was in the bed and ready for her. “Damn freak, don’t rush me!” Susie snapped back. “Oh uhhhhh... sorry ‘bout that, dude.” Susie muttered after she forced herself to cool down. If Kris heard either of the things she’d said, he made no acknowledgement of it.

Susie took a deep breath and let her shoulders slump. _You asked for this._ She reminded herself as she lowered her hands to the bottom of her shirt. She started disrobing by pulling her t-shirt up over her head. As she did so, she exposed her belly and breasts to the bedroom.

Her tummy was large, soft, and round with a slight crease that ran out from her navel, along her stomach, and terminated before it reached her sides. Compared to her plump middle, her breasts were small. Both of her nipples, made erect by the rush of the impending intimacy, were a dark purple that bordered on navy blue.

Not wanting to lose her momentum, Susie grabbed the waistband of both her sweatpants and underwear and yanked them down. In doing so, she exposed her bush of black-brown colored pubes, the top of which the bottom of her belly obscured. With a bit of work, Susie managed to wriggle her pants and undies off her bottom, down her legs, and onto the floor.

With the last of her garments pooled around her ankles, she stepped out of them. With each step she took towards the bed, Susie’s exposed thighs and rear undulated. “Be there in a sec.” Susie muttered to Kris as she inched her way towards the bed, using her toes to probe the area in front of her to ensure her pathway was clear before she took each step.

\-----

After a few stumbles , Susie felt her knees touch the edge of the bed. “Alright, I think I made it back.” She began. “Now, gimme your hand so I don’t squash you or something stupid like that when I get in.”

“Sure thing.” Kris chuckled as he extended his hand towards where he thought he heard Susie’s voice come from. After a second of flailing about, Kris’s hand brushed against the outside of one of Susie’s thighs. The touch lasted only a second, but it was enough. The dragoness felt a warm tingle radiate out from the points where Kris’s fingertips brushed against her. The warmth worked its way around to her back, where it then transformed into a tingle that ran up her spine and only faded once it worked its way down her shoulders.

“Uh… Susie, you okay up there?” Kris asked after a minute passed, and Susie hadn’t even tried to take hold of his offered appendage. Susie felt her cheeks light up, and she groped about until she caught hold of Kris’s hand.

“Y-yeah, course I am. Anyway, ready or not, here I come!” Susie piped as she slid her hand down Kris’s arm and used it as a makeshift guideline to get her into the bed. After a bit of floundering about, she managed to find the edge of the blanket and work her way under it. She then shimmied her way into the bed and under the covers, only stopping when she felt her knee brush against Kris’s bare thigh.

As she lay naked in her best friends bed, the gravity of the situation hit her like a ton of bricks. Her courage left her in a flash, and Susie turned herself around so that she was lying on her left side with her back facing towards Kris. With that small degree of separation between her and the reality of what she was doing, she cracked her eyes open wide enough to see a blurry version of the wall that she’d been standing next to moments ago.

Kris was having much the same reaction as Susie. He felt his breathing hitch, and his heart couldn’t decide if it wanted to stop or re-enact the after-effects of running a marathon. The human was so focused on trying to calm himself down that he jumped a bit when Susie next spoke.

“So I guess I just gotta snuggle up to you then, huh?”

“Y-yeah, I guess so. Kind of the whole point.” Kris stammered. He managed to work his eyes open and found himself staring at the back of Susie’s head. As he did his best to look past his larger bedmate and at the wall beyond her, he couldn’t help but notice that one of Susie’s shoulders wasn't covered by the blanket. The mauve scales sat so they caught, magnified, and reflected a few sparkles of the dim moonlight.

“Okay, I guess I’ll scoot then. You tell me when to stop, got it?”

“Huh?” Kris responded. For whatever reason, he couldn’t break his gaze or thoughts from the innocuous piece of Susie's anatomy exposed to him.

“I said I’m gonna scoot my back up against you, dude.”

“Oh yeah, sorry. Go ahead. Didn’t mean to zone out there.” Kris spoke as he adjusted his position to one that would accommodate holding Susie.

Taking his movement as her queue, Susie proceeded to inch herself backwards towards Kris. After what seemed like forever to the dragoness, she felt her tail press up against Kris’s stomach, no more than a few inches above his groin. “Oh!” She gasped as she felt the human’s body heat radiate from the tip of her tail and down to its base.

The warmth offered by her friend’s exposed body was intoxicating enough to dull her sense of reservation and doubt. In seconds, Susie plastered herself against Kris.

Kris, shocked by how fast Susie closed the gap between them, was too stunned to think about what to do next. So instead, his body acted without input from his brain. As soon as Susie settled into place, Kris managed to work the arm he wasn't lying on up and around the dragoness, and place it between the top of her belly and bottom of her breasts, right at the point where Susie was thinnest.

After taking hold of her, Kris felt himself losing control of the hand clinging to Susie. It began to rub and stroke the scales of Susie’s chubby front while he pressed himself ever tighter up against her. In response, Susie relaxed and allowed herself to further melt back into Kris, which in turn only spurred on the human’s exploration.

Part of Susie was unsure of what to make of Kris’s touch. Without a doubt, it was the most intimate she’d been with anyone, which scared her. But another part of her, a far more powerful part, basked in the attention. It ate it up, it longed for it, it needed it. Her every ill wiped away, it promised her, if she did nothing more than drink in the balm of her friend's touch and let it guide her along.

It was a nice thought, a pleasant thought, a downright pleasurable thought. One Susie couldn’t resist. So she allowed herself to fall into another dream-like haze, never once trying to deter Kris from stroking her. Every now and then, the stroking stopped, and the human, with the subtlest twitch of his fingers, grouped at Susie’s softness, sending erogenous sparks out with every grab and caress.

This continued for several, silent minutes. Susie became so lost in the pleasurable sensation that her tail began to wag. A subconscious testament of how much she was loving what was going on. It was this wagging that brought to Susie’s attention the presences of something hard wedged up against her back and tail. It took both her and Kris only a second to realize that her tail was battering something other than Kris’s unoccupied hand. That realization caused them both to regain control of their errant facilities.

\-----

“Dude is that your-” Susie began but Kris cut her off by flopping away.

“Crap! Susie, I am so, so SO sorry. I-I-I-I I didn’t mean to it; it just happened. I’ll…” Kris tried to say more, but Susie silenced him by flipping over in a flash. Before he could even close his gaping mouth, Kris was looking Susie dead in her amber eyes.

At first, Kris expected to see anger fill those yellow orbs, even disgust. Instead, what filled them was a strange mix of compassion and melancholy. Kris attempted to apologize, but Susie silenced him by placing her middle and pointer fingers against his lips. Then in a slow, fluid motion, she worked her arms around him so that one lay over him with the other snugged under him. Then without any effort, Susie pulled the human up close to her so that their abdomens pressed tight against one another. In doing so, Kris could feel his still-hard shaft press against Susie’s soft belly.

“I ain’t mad, Kris.” Susie whispered as she laid her muzzle against the side of the human’s face. “Shit like that happens, right? I mean, I uh… kinda got the same thing going on.

“Hu-uh?” Kris muttered, not sure of what else he could say to something like that.

“Here, gimme your hand for a sec.” Susie instructed as she shifted her arm about under the blanket, her tone comforting and reassuring.

Kris did as Susie said and moved his hand until he felt Susie’s scaled fingers latch onto his wrist. The boy then felt the dragon place his palm on the inside of her pudgy thigh. After a second, the monster girl guided the human’s hand further and further up her leg.

As Kris felt his fingertips slide along his friend’s scales, he couldn’t help but notice that with each inch his hand climbed, he could feel the temperature rising. Once or twice, he even felt one of his fingertips slide through some dampness. After a few brief seconds, Susie stopped moving Kris’s hand when it was within a few inches or her pussy. The young man was unsure he had ever felt another living person radiate such heat.

“Get it now?” Susie inquired as a pensive and questioning look plastered itself to her face.

Kris looked Susie dead in the eyes and gave her a few slow nods.

“Heh, so relax and don’t freak out or nothing. Being held just feels nice. Plus, it’s only weird if we make it weird, right?”

“Uh... yeah, I guess, I guess you’re right. Whatever I can do to help.”

“Thanks, freak. You really are the best friend I could ask for.”

“I told you early, don’t worry about it.” Kris chuckled. “I could think of worse people to see outside my window at midnight.

“Like who? Susie asked through a fang-filled grin. Talking made her feel like their predicament was almost a non-factor. Like how it usually felt when they hung out.

“Uh… Berdly or Snowy, I guess?”

“You would mention two guys. What’s wrong freak? Fan of the man?” Susie chuckled.

As Susie laughed, it caused her belly to jiggle against Kris’s member. The human’s cock, which had been softening along with the tension in the room, shot back to full attention.

“Something you wanna tell the class? Or maybe it's teasing you like, hmm?” Even in his tizzy, Kris could hear the playfulness in Susie’s admonishments. She was, in her own crude way, trying to lighten the mood.

Not wanting to disappoint, Kris shot right back after forcing out a chuckle at Susie’s bad joke. “Nah, though it does make me wonder why you’re so interested in what gets my motor running all a sudden. Something you want to tell me, Susan?”

Hearing Kris use her full name forced a sneer to curl up the right side of Susie’s maw. _Damn dude, good shot._ She thought as she tried to come up with a retort that packed as much punching power as the one he’d thrown at her. After a second of fumbling, she came up with a brilliant idea. A perfect mix of self depreciation and societal ingrained shame sure to sting the little church boy’s delicate sensibilities.

“Well Kristopher, if it ain’t that, then it must have something to do with ALL this.” Susie emphasized her point by grabbing her tummy and giving it a quick shake, which caused it to jostle around Kris’s member, which in turn forced a small, but pleasured grunt from out between his lips.

Susie, not expecting that reaction, faltered in her taunting. Of all the responses she had planned for that was not one of them. More surprising to her was how much SHE had enjoyed the feeling of what she had done. In fact, every tiny ripple coursing across her chubby tummy caused a corresponding tickle to run across her clit. A quick shift of her legs verified to her that her juices had run down her thigh and pooled on the sheet beneath her.

Susie shook her head in an attempt to regain her composure before Kris figured out there was something going on with her. “Oh, so you DO like that, hmmm?” Susie continued to tease Kris when he didn’t immediately respond to her accusation. “Like bigger girls, do ya? That why you never give Noelle the time of day and always eyeball Catti and her sister when you see them walking by?”

“N-no!” Kris bleated as he did his best to avoid meeting Susie’s gaze. In truth, Kris didn't know if he’d developed a taste for any particular type of girl. But he had to admit, if this was how big girls felt, he could develop quite an interest.

“Whatever you say freak. Anyway, you sure your mom ain’t gonna come in and bust us? I know what she did when she caught your bro and that gator girl kissing. Think she’ll douse us both in holy water, or only me?”

“Probably the both of us. That is if she doesn’t jump straight to pulling grandpa’s old hunting rifle on us.”

The pair started to giggle at the human’s morbid joke. The giggling continued for a few minutes.

\-----

After the pair stopped their laughter, Susie tried stretching out her back. Now that she’d been able to calm down, she felt the full extent of the damage her fall caused her back and legs. After a few more attempts at stretching failed to generate results, Susie gave a frustrated grunt.

“Something wrong?” Kris inquired.

“My back and legs are killing me.”

“You gonna be okay? I think we got a first aid box in the closet, probably some aspirin in there. Want me to go look?”

“Nah, I’ll be fine. Just gotta stretch out a bit is all. Usually works best if I lay on my front but, uh... not really an option here.”

“Why’s that? Kris asked, his tone less than one hundred percent genuine.

“Well, with how freaking tiny your bed is, there ain’t no room. If I wanted to lay like that, I’d have to be on top of you to pull it off. And with how much bigger I am than you, that would turn my B and E into murder.”

“Actually, it’d be manslaughter, but who's counting?” Kris snarked as Susie shot him a look that made it clear she wondered how he knew something like that. “What? Mom watches a lot of police procedurals. I picked up on the lingo after a while. Anyway, I think that after everything we’ve done tonight, you climbing up on top of me isn’t going to change much.”

“Damn, Dreemurr.” Susie joked. “You are a freak. But I ain’t gonna say no to fixing my back, shit’s killing me.”

“Be my guest.” Kris replied as he lifted himself off Susie’s arm.

“Thanks, dude, but don’t blame me if you get squashed flat as a pancake.”

“Wasn’t flattening me out what you were trying to do earlier?”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” Susie spat as she clamped a hand over her mouth to suppress a howl of laughter that was charging up her throat. “If you don’t stop, I’m gonna wake your mom up.” The last words came out as a distorted squeak as Susie did her best to keep from braying.

The human and the dragoness both let out the occasional titter as Susie slipped away from Kris and then positioned herself over top of him. After a brief bout of hesitation, Susie lowered herself down onto Kris’s prone form. As she did so, she wrapped her arms behind Kris’s pillow and pulled it forward, forcing the human into a reclining position.

Kris was about to ask Susie what she was doing when she arched her back and stretched her legs as far out behind her as they went. Susie’s quasi yoga routine ground her round belly against Kris’s flat stomach and forced her breasts up into his face.

“Shit, sorry, freak. Didn't think that one through.” Susie teased as she relaxed her back and allowed herself to place her full weight down on Kris. As she did so, Susie worked her hips left then right to get comfortable. A second after she finished adjusting herself, she felt something press itself against her plush middle. “Again, really?” She asked, exhaustion clear in her voice.

“Not my fault!” Kris retorted, this time his response lacked even a hint of shame or embarrassment.

Susie huffed out a single snort of laughter in response as she stretched her neck out and placed the underside of her snout on the top edge of the pillow she was using to prop Kris up.

“Gonna let me down anytime soon, or is this how you sleep?”

“Actually, I do sleep on a giant pile of pillows. How’d you know? Been peeping in my window?”

“Oh yeah, I would have been there tonight if it weren’t so cold. You would have liked that, wouldn’t you?”

After making that remark, Kris could have sworn he saw a profound look of sorrow flash across Susie’s face. But it was gone before he could be sure he’d seen it. So Kris said nothing. Instead, he waited for Susie to respond.

“Would have been nice to have someone there after the shit dad pulled...” Susie mumbled.

“Oh crap, Sus! I am so sorry. I totally spaced out there for a sec.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it, freak. Like I been saying, nothing you could’ve done ‘bout it. So why get worked up over it? Anyway, even though it was a total shit show to start, tonight ended way better than most of my nights do. For once, I don’t feel scared about falling asleep.

Susie saw that Kris was about to say something in response to her last statement, but she cut him off before he could. “Again, nothing you gotta say anything about. Anyway, I’m tired. I think tonight is finally catching up with me.”

“Same here.” Kris replied. “And I wasn’t even the one that walked a couple miles in the freezing cold.” As Kris spoke he worked his arms out from under Susie and stretched, yawning as he did so.

“Quit it freak or your gonna—” Susie was unable to finish her sentence as her maw opened with a great yawn. “See what you did?”

Rather than continue trading verbal jabs, Kris ended the discussion between Susie and himself. To do so, the human worked his arms around the dragoness pulling her snug up against him, rubbing his cheek against hers as he did so.

“Good night, Susie.” He whispered as he relaxed his neck and allowed his head to sink into the pillow.

“Good night, Kris.” Susie replied as she let herself slide into a comfortable heap atop her makeshift, human mattress.

Within seconds of the two saying their goodnights, they were both out like lights.

\-----

The pair slept through the rest of the night and well into the next morning. So sound asleep were the pair that neither so much as stirred an inch as Toriel woke and made herself ready for the day.

Kris didn't wake until a couple hours after Toriel’s departure. For the briefest of seconds he couldn’t figure out why he felt squashed. Then he focused his vision and saw the mass of mauve scales atop him. Upon seeing Susie, the events of the previous night filled the human’s mind, and he let out a contented sigh.

Kris lay under Susie for a few minutes contemplating what to do. Susie was still out cold, her breathing was deep and regular, broken only by the occasional snort or snore. Given his awkward position, Kris couldn’t figure out why he felt so comfortable. Under normal circumstances, his neck would have been one big, crick; however, before he could give the matter much thought, Susie began to stir.

Susie’s half-lidded eyes locked onto Kris’s bang free peepers and as they did so, a warm smile worked its way across her face. “Morning, freak.” Susie yawned. “Man, I slept good, you?”

“Yeah, actually.” Kris replied as the same type of smile Susie was wearing appeared on his own mug. As Kris spoke, he ran the fingertips of both his hands up and down Susie’s back.

In response, Susie shot Kris a quizzical look, one that said what do you think you are doing?

“Oh! Sorry about that. I was uh… guess my brain isn’t awake yet.”

“Heh, don’t worry about it, freak. I’m just messing with you.”

“Oh sure.” Kris replied as he stopped his petting and settled his hands at his sides, an act he found far more unpleasant than he imagined he would. “So what do you want to do for the rest of the day? It IS Saturday after all. Want to just hang out here or you got something else in mind?”

“Honestly, I gotta go home.” Susie replied as a frown replaced her smile. As she spoke those words, Kris shot her a concerned look, which Susie noticed, so she clarified her previous statement. “Oh, it’d only be for a few minutes so I can grab some stuff and get changed. Plus, dad is working today, so I wouldn’t have to deal with him or any of his shit. You uh… you want to come with?”

“Of course...” Kris replied, his tone solemn, thoughtful. He knew he could give no other answer.

“Guess it would finally give me a chance to show you the place. It ain’t nothing special, though. Hell, it’s kind of a pigsty to be honest.”

Kris shrugged in response and smiled. “Long as we’re together, I don’t really care where we are.”

“Wow, dude. Way to be a sap. That was so sweet, I think you gave me the ‘beetus.”

The pair laughed at the joke, and Susie waited for Kris to quiet before she resumed the conversation. “Oh uh, before we go, can I borrow some of Asriel’s old winter gear? I REALLY don’t wanna walk all the way back to my place in a ratty set of PJs.”

“Of course.” Replied Kris. “I think I saw an old jacket in the closet last night when I was grabbing all that stuff. I’m sure there's probably some mittens and hats hidden in there as well. Maybe even a set of boots or shoes.”

“Great.” Susie remarked. After that, Kris began to plan out the day as Susie continued to lounge atop him. She appreciated how, with some prodding, the human was able to take charge of a situation. As Kris was talking, Susie’s stomach let out a fearsome growl which silenced the human as he both heard and felt it.

“I guess I can make us breakfast before we head out.” Kris laughed as he gave Susie’s arm a squeeze.

“Sounds good to me, freak.”

“Anything in particular you wanted?”

“I ain’t picky.” Susie replied, and she patted her plump middle for emphasis.

“Ha, dumb question, I guess...” Kris chuckled in response. The human then began to squirm a bit while an important question played through his mind. “Hey Susie, how do we want to handle the whole getting dressed thing?”

“Whaddaya mean?” Susie responded as she arched an eyebrow at the human.

“Well, I mean last night we kept our eyes shut while we got naked. Not really something we can do now since we’d each have to find our clothes and—” Susie cut off Kris as she sat up on top of him; the blanket falling off her shoulders as she did so and exposing her breasts, belly, thighs, and all of the rest of her to him.

“After everything we went through last night, I don’t really think I have to hide anything from you. I mean you pretty much felt it all already, what’s seeing it gonna hurt? That is unless Krissy has something he wants to hide. What’s wrong Dreemur, got a LITTLE something you wanna keep secret?” Susie hit Kris with a crude chuckle as she finished her question.

“I should think after last night, you of all people would know I have nothing to hide.”

“Humble too, huh? Man, if your mommy could hear you right now she would be washing your mouth out with holy water and soap!”

“Oh, I hope it's the apple flavored kind!”

Kris’s last comment rendered Susie at a loss for words, so instead, she opted to laugh like a goon as she hopped off the human and onto the floor where she began to gather up her clothes.

\-----

Susie’s exit from the bed pulled the comforter off of Kris, exposing his nude body. Without thinking, he turned and sat up to continue speaking with Susie and, in doing so, caught a look at her from behind as she stooped over to grab up her discarded sweat pants and underwear. The first thing he noticed was her stubby tail, not something he often saw as most times one of her busted-up jackets covered it. But this sight was soon forgotten when Kris’s eyes drifted a bit lower, and he caught sight of Susie plump rump.

Susie, sensing that she was being watched, turned and caught Kris staring at her. She worked a fake glower onto her mug. “What?” She barked, doing all she could to suppress any mirth in her voice. “Never seen a pretty girl pick her underwear up off your floor before?”

In response, Kris flopped back down on the exposed bedsheet. After a second to get his bearings straight, he propped himself up on one arm and turned to face his friend as she walked around to the other side of the bed. “Can’t say I have. But I guess I’d be okay with it. Care to tell me when the pretty girl is going to show up?”

“Real funny, freak. A laugh a minute. You wish you could get a piece of this.” As Susie spoke, she slapped a hand against her ass, causing it to ripple as she passed by the human. The dragoness saw Kris’s eyes explode open and couldn’t suppress a huge guffaw from escaping from her maw.

As she walked by the bed, Susie decided turnabout was fair play and pointed an obvious stare at Kris’s crotch. “Not bad for a LITTLE human.” She said through a forced sneer. A second later, she arrived at the other side of the bed, her bare backside facing the bedroom door. She then bent down, scooped up Kris’s clothes, and tossed the wadded up ball of shorts, beater, and underwear at him.

“Now get your ass dressed so we can get going. Susie hungry!” The dragoness mock roared as she began to pull her underwear over an ankle.

“Yeah yeah, I can hear your gut growling from here.” Kris replied as he grabbed the wad of clothes tossed in his lap and extracted himself from the bed.

“You weren’t complaining about my gut last night.”

“Not like I had much of a choice when you slammed down on me.” Kris shot back as he finished pulling on his boxers.

“Fair.” Was all Susie said as she began to pull up her panties.

For a few seconds, silence filled the room as Kris and Susie each put on their clothes. That silence broke when the bedroom door squeaked open and Toriel walked in.

\-----

“Good morning, my child.” The boss-monster chirped with her eyes closed. “My meeting ended early and I thought you would like some breakfast to start your day. I have waffles go—” Toriel trailed off after she opened her eyes and saw a half naked Susie standing next to her half-naked son.

“Kristopher, w-wh-what exactly is going on here?” Toriel asked in a voice made up of fifty percent shock and fifty percent rage.

Kris looked to Susie who’d transitioned from mauve to beet red. The sudden appearance of the caprine-like monster seemed to have petrified the dragon in place. With any chance of covering up their previous night’s escapades shattered into a million pieces, Kris did the only thing he could think to do. He yanked up his pants, grabbed hold of the blanket on his bed, and draped it over Susie, shielding his bare naked friend from his mother’s debilitating stare.

“M-morning, m-mom.” Kris stammered as he stepped away from Susie. In that short span of time, Kris racked his brain as hard as he could to come up with some sort of explanation for what his mother had walked in on. One made to make the current situation seem normal, blasé even. A task he failed of course.

“Let’s talk over that at breakfast... I hope you don’t mind if Susie joins us.” Kris shot his mom the best smile he could manage. That smile withered to nothing as the human saw the look growing on Toriel’s face. It was a look that said, in no uncertain terms, that the time for jokes was long gone. It was an angry look, yet it also contained a few other emotions Kris couldn’t quite pick out.

“I’ll see you both downstairs at the kitchen table in five minutes.” Toriel snapped. “I expect this door to remain open and for both of you to be fully decent by the time you come downstairs. Do I make myself clear?”

“Crystal!” Kris replied.

“Very well then. Exactly five minutes, I mean it.” With her final warning given, Toriel left Kris and Susie to dress themselves.

\-----

“I think I know how death row inmates feel.” Susie droned after she regained her senses. The dragoness sat on Kris’s bed to help ease the task of pulling up her panties. As she jostled about, the comforter fell off its perch on her shoulders, which exposed her bare torso to Kris once more.

Kris took a long look at his friend’s topless form and did his best to commit it to memory. _If I am going to die, at least the last thing I got to see was a girl naked in real life. Even better, it was Susie_. He mused as a warm smile slid onto his face.

From across the bed, Susie harbored similar thoughts and feelings about Kris, which accompanied her own sentimental grin.

As they finished dressing in silence, the significance of those thoughts hit the both of them. Neither said a word, but the blush each rocked whenever they caught the other looking at them and how fast they turned from one anothers’ gazes made it clear that something between them was different.

A mere day ago, that feeling of change would have scared both of them, made them fear for the longevity of their friendship and what the future held for them. But now, that fear was absent and in its place was a tinge of certainty, a subtle hint that they were more intertwined with one another now than ever before. Or perhaps, each thought this was a feeling brought about by the dread of having to face Toriel and account for their sins under the great and all-seeing eye of the Angel. But deep down, both wished it was the former.

It took the pair less than a minute to finish dressing. When Susie finished pulling her t-shirt on, Kris extended his hand to her, which she took. He then helped her up and off the bed.

“My, such a gentleman.” Susie mock cooed as she mussed Kris’s mop of hair with a clawed hand.

“Nah, a gentleman would have locked his door when he had a lady caller.” Kris sighed through a fast forming frown. “Sorry Susie, I screwed up and now mom is going to… honestly, I have no idea what she’s going to do.”

“I’m gonna sound like a broke record, but dude, it ain’t your fault. She would of freaked out about the locked door. And if not that, she would have thought something was fishy if she saw me on your couch in ratty old PJs on the coldest day in the history of forever.”

“Guess you’re right.” The frown on Kris’s face faded, replaced with a look of quiet acceptance. “Thanks, Sus.”

“No worries, dude. But hey, we should get going downstairs. If we're late, I’m guessing your mom will do worse than murder us.”

“Yeah, probably” Kris replied as he started towards the still open bedroom door. Kris walked to the door, and when he reached it, gestured for Susie to head through. “Ladies first.” He teased as Susie strode past him.

\-----

The two were silent as they approached the steps that would take them downstairs to their meeting with Toriel, when all a sudden, Susie stopped in her tracks. She turned to Kris and, with a look of absolute terror in her eyes, asked him a question that had burst screaming into her head.

“Kris, I was facing towards you when you mom walked in, yeah?” Sweat was forming on Susie’s brow as she spoke.

“Yeah...” Kris replied as Susie’s look filled him with a cold dread.

“So my back… my back was towards the door when your mom walked in?”

“Yeah it was but so wha—OH...” Kris trailed off as he figured out what Susie was getting at.

“Do you think she… do you think she saw what was back there?” Susie asked as she did her best to repress the tears of fear and embarrassment that were fighting like a man possessed to break from her eyes.

“I-I don’t know, maybe? But she was probably so shocked by seeing us mostly naked she didn’t pay close attention.” Kris said in the most convincing tone he could muster. But he knew from first hand experience that his mother had the eyes of a hawk. Toriel was many things, but unobservant wasn't one of them.

“It’ll be okay, Sus. If she asks we’ll just lie. And I doubt she’ll even ask. She’s probably so concerned about saving our souls all she’ll talk about is church and the Angel.”

“Y-you think so?” Susie asked through a loud and violent snort.

“Yeah, and… and if she pushes you on it, then I got your back no matter what. Where friends, no, we’re best friends and that’s what best friends do, right?”

Susie gave another big snort and wiped at her eyes with the back of one of her hands. “Yeah dude, we’ve been through too much shit to break apart now, huh?”

Kris responded by giving Susie a huge smile and followed it up by wrapping her in a big hug. Susie returned the gesture without a second thought. There they stood at the top of the stairs, embracing one another and fighting back the bleakness of the situation that surrounded them.

But, all good things must come to an end and the pair’s embrace broke apart when they heard the raised voice of Toriel calling from downstairs, “Susan, Kristopher, you have one minute to get down here. Do NOT be late... please.”

Both Kris and Susie knew that the goat woman’s words were nothing short of a direct command. The please was only there out of habit.

As Susie walked down the first step, Kris stopped her by taking hold of her hand. He then joined her on the step and gave her the most reassuring nod he could muster. “Together?” He whispered to her.”

“Together!” Susie shot back, her eyes alight with assurance and passion.

And with that, the pair descended the stairs, prepared to face the wrath of Toriel. Each scared of what was to come, but each also knew that they had the other in their corner and could turn to them no matter what happened.

**The End?**


End file.
